The Walking DeadContinued
by hydra350
Summary: Ann Grimes now Dixon still trying to survive the zombie overthrow.  Trying to keep her brother and husband from killing each other should be fun.
1. Chapter 1

The Walking Dead Season 2

Hydra_350

Disclaimer Wow I never had these guys but I would seriously have some fun with them if I did. They belong to the graphic book guys, Frank *can't remember his last name* and AMC.

Summary: Well I'm baaaccckkk. This starts with season 2 premiere and Ann Grimes now Dixon still trying to survive the zombie overthrow. *the tracking scene with Rick and Daryl was an awesome chance for the brother-in-laws to bond*

_Previously on the Walking Dead:_

_Rick Grimes smirked at the younger girl in front of him as she fussed around the nurses' station. Clearly the girl didn't know he was standing there yet and he shushed the other nurses who grinned secretly._

_"Excuse me Nurse!" He stated loudly and the girl jumped in the air dropping the box of office supplies she was holding._

_"HOLY FRITTLECAKES!" She cried out as she dropped the box. "Rick! That was not funny!" She yelled at her brother as the nurses sitting down trying to silence their giggles._

_"Frittlecakes?" Rick laughed through his grin. "That's a new one."_

_Ann sighed hearing about casualties and injuries sustained due to a police chase ending badly. Two suspects were dead, the last was fatally injured. One of the officers was fatally shot as well. Ann turned away getting supplies ready for the sudden onslaught when she heard something else the things fell to the floor making the two other nurses jump in surprise._

_"Damn it Ann that stuff is expensive!" Nancy grumbled angrily as she started to pick them up. "Ann?" The red head looked back and frowned worriedly at the pale expression on her friends face. "Ann?" She called again but Ann turned and ran for the double doors as fast as she could and slammed through them. Nancy stood up and walked over to the brunette nurse. "What did she hear that made her upset Tina?"_

_"Nothing I know of. It only said that the Sheriff's Deputy was the one that had been shot."_

_"OH MY GOD!" Nancy paled herself._

_"What?"_

_"That was her brother you idiot!" Nancy hurried for the double doors._

_"We need to get Rick, and get the fuck outta here!" Shane tried to move Ann forward but she folded her arms and gave him an unamused grimace._

_"Not one of your funny pranks Shane…" Ann frowned. "Now is there a reason you're trying to freak me out?"_

_"THERE'S NO TIME!" Shane yelled at her so loudly she nearly fell into the wall. He roughly spun her around so she could see something. Her face paled and laughed nervously._

_"Oh look…" She let out another nervous giggle. "The dead patient on level 4 is awake…" Ann Grimes looked back at Shane who nodded in his own 'duh' look._

_"Well the older guy that looks like he belongs on Golden Pond's name is Dale." The guy pointed to the Asian kid. "That one is name Glen, he's a pizza guy." The guy looked confused for a second. "That's all the names I got so far myself."_

_"And you?" Ann asked curiously._

_"Daryl Dixon."_

_"Ann Grimes." Ann shook Daryl's hand when he extended it to her._

_"Pleasure ta meet ya Miss Grimes."_

_"So help me GOD if ya walk another step!" He growled venomously and she rolled her eyes and walked two steps before a huge ass hunting knife impaled itself in the trunk of the tree she was beside. She stared at the knife which had landed beside her head. She looked over in disbelief at him and her eyes darkened in anger._

_"DID YOU REALLY JUST THROW THAT AT ME?" She shouted angrily, Daryl barely had time to react before she tackled him with an inhumane roar of anger. She got her elbow into his chest before he spun her around and landed her into a tree. She winced from pain but the anger took over again and she swooped her leg around and clipped his back knee taking them both down. He quickly pinned her to the wet grassland causing her to buck up angrily. "LET ME GO!" She screamed acidly. He didn't speak he just kept her pinned to the ground. "IT'S NOT FUCKING FAIR!" Ann Grimes shrieked as loud as she could. "WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?" She yelled again breathing in again. "HE PROMISED!" Ann let out a sob. "He promised he'd neva leave me! Like mom and dad!" Ann hyperventilated slightly before she screamed again. "I FUCKING HATE THIS! I GOT LEFT BEHIND! EVERYONE GOT TO GO BUT ME!" Ann swallowed her tears before yelling again. "I'VE NEVA BEEN SO ANGRY! I just want to kill everything and break things! I CANT TAKE IT AMYMORE!" She let out a final roar of rage and sagged into the ground spent of energy. She noticed Daryl still had her pinned. He hadn't spoken during her tirade and she saw the sadness in his eyes._

_"Feel better?" He asked quietly._

_"Rick?" She finally found her voice and called out. The man holding Carl and Lori looked over and gaped at her. Carl slid out of his arms and Lori moved back._

_"Ann…?" Rick asked worriedly. He walked forward unsure if she was real. He then ran forward and grabbed her into a fierce hug. "OH GOD!" He muttered into her hair. "oh thank GOD…" He started to ramble which he hadn't done since they were kids. "Ah thought ya were one of the bodies in parking lot!"_

_"Rick man let her go." Shane told his best friend who gaped at him._

_"Why in da hell would I do that? I'm talking to mah sista!" Rick finally noticed the gray color to his sister's cheeks._

_Ann's system just had too much stress too much excitement ad her body just did the only thing it could do: It shut down._

_"ANN!" She heard her brother's worried voice as she fell into the dark void._

_"Lori what did you mean about that?" Rick asked confusedly. Shane saw the grimace on Ann's face as he leaned closer to Rick and whispered into his ear. Rick's face paled then turned almost blood with anger. "SHE'S WHAT?" He turned his evil glare to his sister and yelled again. "WITH WHO?"_

_"Thanks Shane…" Ann grumbled sarcastically._

_"Hey he was goin ta find out sooner or later…"_

_"Un-fucking-believable!" Rick held his head with his hands. He glanced over to Ann again. "Do I have ta worry Shane?" He asked worriedly and Shane bit his lip nervously. Dale smirked at the three of them._

_"No Mister Grimes ya needn't worry about Daryl with her." Dale explained remembering the teasing he witnessed._

_"Well at least she ain't doin Merle instead." Shane offered and both Rick and Ann's faces scrunched up in disgust._

_"Okay ew. He's like your age Shane…" Ann muttered before standing and heading over to the tent._

_Ann entered the REC Room again and Daryl was engrossed in the book and she laid on the couch almost on top of him._

_"What part ya on?" She asked looking at the words on the page. She frowned that he was still on the first page. He looked away embarrassedly. "Daryl?" She asked sadly when she realized what was wrong. "You can't read can you?" She asked softly and Daryl gave her a pitiful expression. "You said you liked this book…"_

_"Ah know the title. My ma used ta read it ta me before she got sick." He grumbled feeling like a dimwit redneck._

_"Call me Ishmael." Ann read out loud, she kept reading aloud but Daryl closed the book on her. She looked at him confusedly but saw the intensity in his eyes. "What's wrong?" She asked worriedly._

_"Ann…" He swallowed nervously. "I love you."_

_**Ann looked down at her bag still wondering how Jenners had gotten it. She looked insider and saw the two books. 'Moby Dick' which she moved slightly out of the way to see the other book. 'Common Sense' was thicker than it had been. Her forehead scrunched up in confusion.**_

_"__**What the devil?" She wondered out loud causing Daryl to look over at her.**_

_**She opened the book and pulled out a small letter. Her eyes widened reading the letter that was addressed to her.**_

_'__**Ann, I know we just met. What you said made me think. If you can figure it out more power to ya. Edwin Jenners.' **_

_**Her hands shook as she read more papers that had been shoved into the pages of the book. Everything from the first documented outbreaks in Prague to the different formulas that the other nations had been working on including America. **_

_"__**Oh mah GOD!" She gaped at what she held. Daryl looked at her worriedly now.**_

_"__**What?"**_

_"__**He gave me everything he had!" She muttered slightly. "He wants me ta try ta find natural immunity and find a way to reverse engineer a vaccine!" Her eyes filled with tears.**_

_"__**Or cure?" Daryl looked over into her bag.**_

_"__**Watch the road." Ann scolded him still looking at the information she now held. "We need to keep this quiet."**_

_"__**The others would want to…" Daryl argued but saw Ann's face.**_

_"__**I don't wanna say anything til I know it might be possible." She admitted as they convoy pulled into a clearing for the night.**_

_**Daryl lightly ghosted his hand over his pants pocket the one that still had the small bag in it.**_

_"__**He gave me something to." He admitted softly. "Told me not ta screw it up. He fucking knew that we'd get away." He shook his head.**_

_"__**What do you mean?" Ann asked looking up curiously from her new quest. Daryl reached into his pocket and pulled out the bag. Ann stared at the small bag in shocked silence. "Those what I think they are?" She asked and he nodded silently. "Uhm." She looked lost for a few seconds. "Are ya asking me?" She asked nervously trying to swallow but since her mouth had gone dry it was pretty hard to.**_

_"__**Yeah I guess so." Daryl shrugged looking at his steering wheel. He didn't want to hear the rejection but was surprised when he heard the answer.**_

_"__**Okay." She muttered still shocked.**_

_"__**What?" He looked at her in shock.**_

_"__**Yes…" His face lit up and he grinned for the first time 'instead of those half smirks he always gave'.**_

_"__**REALLY?" He asked and Ann shot him a look. "Sorry it's just…" He looked away sheepishly. "I never thought ya'd…"**_

_"__**Say yes?" Ann asked smiling sadly and Daryl nodded embarrassedly.**_

_"__**WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" Rick yelled at his sister motioning to the ring on her ring finger. Ann smirked bashfully at her brother who then glared venomously at Daryl.**_

_"__**Oh that's it boy yer going ta die!" He growled angrily and Ann swatted him in the head making him whine in pain.**_

_"__**YA LEAVE MAH HUSBAND AY LONE!" Ann snapped at her brother as soon as she yelled it silence came over the camp as they stared at the two of them in shock.**_

_"__**Awkward…" Glen sang lightly before going back to his tent building.**_

_"__**Ann Dixon has a nice sound to it." T-Dog admitted with a shrug. He walked off and helped Glen put up the tents.**_

_"__**Ah love you Mrs. Dixon." Daryl whispered into her ear and she beamed at him.**_

_"__**Likewise Mistah Dixon." She kissed his cheek and he grinned back at her before he kissed her again.**_

And now Walking Dead

"Uhm, Aunt Ann?" Carl asked shyly making Ann stop kissing Daryl. She looked at the kid who looked uncomfortable.

"Yeah sweetie?" She asked politely.

"Does this mean I call him Uncle Daryl?" He asked confusedly and Ann smirked at him.

Daryl heard what the kid asked and let out a groan and hid his face in Ann's neck. He snickered when he heard Ann's giggle and reply to the kid.

"Only if you want to sweetie." Ann stated to her nephew who nodded in acceptance.

"I think he'd be a cool uncle." And Carl started away as Dale looked at the scene with a smirk.

"I can't believe this shit…" Daryl grumbled into her neck.

"Well at least you have approval." Ann turned her head and nipped lightly on his ear causing an interesting sound to emit from his throat.

"Aw Hell I just thought of something more disturbing…" Daryl looked at her, Ann gave him an odd look.

"Which is?" She asked nervously.

"Uncle Merle…" He admitted with a smirk and Ann laughed out loud.

"We'll find him Daryl…" Ann told him after the laughter had ended. Daryl nodded in response but looked away thinking about his older brother. "Hey…" Ann got his attention and he saw the suggestive grin. "How about we go make this thing official?"

Daryl looked down and she was rubbing her wedding ring and gave him an eyebrow raise.

"You do realize we don't got the tent up yet right?" He asked with a smirk and Ann darted a look to the pickup truck.

"Who needs a tent…" She muttered while tilting her head towards the cabin of the truck.

"Isn't this a song? She thinks my pickups sexy?" Daryl asked getting a sarcastic eyebrow raise in return.

"Tractor…" Ann corrected him and he shrugged.

Daryl then smirked wolfishly at her and she gave him a perplexed look.

"What's that look fer?" She asked nervously.

"Just thinking about somethin' mah brotha said…"

"What?"

"'Bout me clubbing you and dragging ya to mah cave…"

"yer going ta club me?" Ann gave him a look of disbelief.

"nope…" Daryl grinned and grabbed Ann up and slung her over his shoulder.

"DARYL! PUT ME DOWN!" She squealed with laughter as he hauled her into the truck.

Glen noticed the movements of the truck and scrunched his face up in disgust. Shane Walsh stopped beside him to help with the tents.

"ugh." Glen mentioned drolly to Shane who rolled his eyes and shrugged. Carl came over carrying some extra tent poles.

"What're they doing?" Carl asked curiously causing Shane to pale and Glen to snicker.

"Tell you when yer older kid." Glen muttered then noticed more movement from the truck. "Maybe not even then…" He grimaced Shane looked over at the truck and saw it lift a little before hitting the dirt again.

"Did that just…?" He asked Glen who turned red in the cheeks. The two men noticed Kim cover her daughter Sofia's eyes with one hand.

Suddenly the front wheels of the pickup truck went flying off of the car. There was dead silence-no pun intended from the camp. Shane's eyes widened in wonder.

"Uhm, did they just…?" He asked as Glen burst into laughter and fell to the ground in hysterics.

"THEY BROKE THE TRUCK!" He clutched his sides howling with laughter.

Rick came out of the RV and saw Glen just about rolling in the dirt with laughter. Shane was looking rather awed by whatever he saw. Rick looked over to T-Dog who was actually a shade lighter if that were possible.

"What happened? What was that noise?" He asked the bulky black man who shook his head.

"They were making the marriage official…" Andrea muttered drolly with a smirk of amusement.

"And…?" Rick tried to get more information and looked over at the truck and noticed that the front tires were in front of the vehicle. "Hold up…" Rick's eyes widened. "They broke…?" Rick closed his mouth unable to find words and walked back into the RV slamming the door shut.


	2. never living this down

The next day found Ann Dixon having to ride in the RV with Andrea, Glen Shane, T-Dog and Dale. Daryl was now stuck with driving his motorcycle. Ann couldn't even look anybody in the eye after what happened the night before. Daryl went by Kim and her daughter pulling his bike out in front of the rest of the group. He noticed the looks everybody was giving him and he couldn't stop the smug grin from crossing his face.

Ann's cheeks were red when Daryl moved the bike past her. He gave her a cheeky smirk and stopped the bike.

"Ah can't believe ya broke my damn truck!"

"At least ya still got the bike…" Ann grinned and kissed his cheek. "It's a nice bike…"

"Aw hell no! Hands off ya crazy lady! Ya already got my truck, ya ain't getting the bike to!" Ann laughed out loud and kissed Daryl's cheek again. He pulled her closer and kissed her fully and let her go.

"You be careful ya hear me! Crazy ass redneck hillbilly." Ann lightly stroked his cheek and he turned into her touch.

"Likewise ya crazy ass bitch…" He warned her getting a loving laugh from her.

T-Dog and Glen shook their heads and shared an odd look.

"Ya know they sure got a weird way of expressing their feelings…" T-Dog muttered and Glen snickered.

Ann was standing behind Glen waiting for him to get on the RV so she could get on next. Glen turned around and let her in first but only so he could check her ass out. Unfortunately Daryl Dixon saw the small grin on the kids face.

"Don't even think about it!" He yelled at him with a venomous glare and Glen put his hands up in surrender.

"I was just letting her on first!"

"I mean it PING PONG hands off!" Daryl snarled at him again and Glen pouted to himself.

Glen got in the RV and noticed the perplexed look Ann gave him.

"Ping pong?" She asked and Glen's cheeks reddened.

"Shut up." He responded and sat down across the aisle from Andrea and Shane. Glen noticed the dubious glare Shane was giving him and he got defensive. "What I was just letting her on first!"

"uh huh, sure ya were kid…" Shane grumbled making Andrea smirk sadly at this dysfunctional family that built up around her.

Daryl pulled up to the front and looked back at the other two vehicles and waited for them to get settled. He heard Carl ask Rick why the truck had broken last night. Daryl leaned over and pressed his forehead against the bars of the bike. His cheeks felt like they had been badly sunburned but he knew this burning was going away any time soon.

"Oh lord I ain't neva living this one down!" Daryl muttered darkly and looked over to see Lori Grimes with her face pressed against the roof of the Station Wagon laughing hysterically. Rick glared over at Daryl before telling Carl an answer.

"Maybe when yer older son." Carl then shrugged and rolled his eyes.

"Story of my life…" The kid grumbled and got into the car. Lori wiped some rampant tears from her eyes from the laughter and got in the front of the car. He noticed Kim, and Sophie get in the back seat with Carl and last he saw Rick Grimes rubbing his temple like he was fighting off an oncoming migraine.

Daryl shook his head morosely thinking to himself: 'marrying Ann, what da hell I git mah self into?' He snickered to himself thinking about the different ways he could annoy sheriff idiot and deputy dipshit. He pulled out onto the highway and heard the other two cars start up behind him. 'Well time to get this moveable feast on the road…'


	3. Watch Your Language!

Ann had nothing better to do than watch Shane clean his guns along with Andrea so she reach into her bag and got out Jenner's journal and started to read about the earlier tests and frowned at the notes.

'It almost looks like he was relatively close to finding out where the virus originated from but the first couple samples decayed too fast for further testing.' Ann rolled her eyes as she read kind of still listening to Shane lecture Andrea on how to clean and reassemble a gun properly.

"Yeah Ah'm sure she don't know how to work with guns seeing as she has her own and can fish betta than you and Rick combined." Ann admitted drolly getting a mock glare from Shane.

"Stow it kid."

"That the best ya got buddy? Seriously yer getting a little soft in yer old age." Ann smirked vapidly back at him and he glowered back at her.

"Aw geez." Dale grumbled from the driver seat and slowed the RV down to a stop. Ann put away her reading and walked over to Dale and paled at the sight.

"Aw fuck me!" She whined out loud and grimaced from the hard smack to her head from Shane.

"Language! Ya see this is exactly the reason why Ah didn't want ya getting in with Dixon!"

Glen bit his lip to stop his chuckle but from the glare he received from Ann and Shane he knew he wasn't successful. He cleared his throat and went back to looking at the map he held.

Daryl rode back after scouting the completely packed highway. He stopped at Dale's window and then he smirked with a brief blush when Ann blew him a kiss. He coughed and looked over at Dale again not missing the head shake and exasperated look Deputy Dipshit gave his wife. Daryl heard Dale clear his throat expectantly and Daryl nodded his head to follow him through the spaces he had found that they could fit through.

"Uhm there's an interstate bypass if we just…" Glen offered looking at the map.

"It would take too long." Shane informed the younger man.

Dale followed behind Daryl closely trying not to hit anything. Ann grimaced at the sight of the automobile graveyard they were creeping through. She turned her face away in sorrow seeing a child lying in the back seat of one car. She felt Shane grab her shoulder and squeeze it trying to ease her sadness.

Glen looked worriedly around the highway through the windshield.

"Can we get through here?" No sooner had he asked steam shot up out of the front of the RV. The RV slowed down to a final full stop causing Ann to lean over with a sarcastic laugh.

"Un-fucking believable!" She snapped dryly only to wince from the head hit again.

"I Said Watch That Language!" Shane snapped at her angrily.

"Shane I swear ta GOD if ya hit me again…" Ann rubbed her head tiredly. "Ah am going ta shoot ya in yer kneecap!"

Everybody got out of their respected vehicles and approached the RV. Dale got out and gave everyone an exasperated look.

"I said it, didn't I say it? A thousand times! Dead in the water!" He complained to the other survivors.

"Problem Dale?" Rick asked curiously.

"We're in the middle of nowhere with no hope…" Dale trailed off as Daryl walked past them and started to scrounge through the back of one of the abandoned cars.

"Not going to find a radiator hose in here. More junk and crap then ever."

T-Dog nodded in agreement and started to look around another car.

"We can siphon some gas from these other cars."

"Should we go get some water?" Lori asked but looked at Ann as she went through another car with unease. "I don't know how I feel about this…" She looked freaked out that they were about to scour through dead peoples belongings.

"Lori there's no choice anymore." Ann offered acerbically. "Ya want ta survive than ya gotta scavenge." Ann's expression softened at her sister-in-law. "It's not like any of us want to do this, but we need supplies and we might find some in these cars."

"Come on everyone look around gather what you can." Shane ordered and everybody went about their business.

Ann grabbed up a pencil and notepad and went around checking everything in their own supply. Daryl followed her and leaned over her shoulder.

"What're ya doin?" He asked playfully surprised that she didn't jump this time.

"Ah am taking inventory of what we do have so we can know what to grab up and what not to grab up. Ah mean our space is limited don't wanna double up when we don't need it…" She was so into taking inventory that she didn't even pay attention to Daryl's hand on her waist.

"Anything Ah can do ta help?" He asked pressing his lips against her ear. Ann only grabbed up another pencil and notepad handing it over to Daryl.

"yeah go ask if Kim can start taking note as to what they find." She went back to taking inventory leaving Daryl confused as to what the hell just happened.

He walked over to Kim and handed her the notepad and message and walked away. He heard Sheriff Idiot snickering at him and he glared at Rick.

"Let me guess…" Rick smirked knowingly. "Ya tried ta get a response from her while she was doing a list."

"yeah…"

"What's going on over here Rick?" Shane approached the two others.

"Seems Daryl tried talking ta Ann when she was in a 'list' mood." Shane snorted with laughter and slapped Daryl's shoulder good naturedly.

"Hell kid even I don't try ta talk ta her when she's in a 'list' mood."

"List mood?" Daryl asked warily.

"If she starts making a list of any kind it's best ta not even approach her."

"Damn yer lucky she even said anything to ya!" Shane laughed and Rick let out his own chuckle.

"Just because Ah'm making a list don't mean Ah'm not listening to ya!" Ann called over not even breaking contact with the notepad. "Idiots." She grumbled under her breath which got the three men to snicker slightly.


	4. Oh look a Walker Parade!

Everybody had their own jobs to do. Ann walked over to a car that was already pretty empty and she looked into the trunk finding a first-aid kit.

"Oh hello there darling…" She muttered with a smirk. She heard her brother urgently telling everybody to hide anywhere they could and she looked down the road at what was happening and paled. There was a massive horde of Walkers ambling down the road towards them. They were damn lucky that Dale and Rick had been keeping watch or else nobody would've had time to scamper. Ann was caught in the open and could only go one place. The car she was at was too low to the ground for her to get under. "Fuck it…" She climbed into the car trunk and pulled the lid down far enough so it wouldn't close and lock her in. She could hear the gang of walkers moving around the car and she held her hand over her mouth to stop her panicked breaths from being heard.

'Please oh GOD please! Let them just move on and not sense any of us! Rick please be careful! Please let Shane be okay. Please watch over the kids! Keep Glen, T-Dog and Dale safe. Don't let Kim or Lori get hurt and make sure Andrea gets to a safe place because she was in the RV! Please keep my husband Daryl safe and unharmed. He's my knight in shining…flannel…' Ann almost let out a hysterical snicker but stifled it in time. She heard another throng of Walkers shuffling past the car she was in and she noticed through the small opening in the trunk that one Walker was sniffing around the car. Ann paled and felt her heart nearly stop. 'Oh GOD move on! Please for fucks sake move on! Nothing in here! PLEASE GOD LET US LIVE!' The Walker gave a small growl and started to move away Ann felt the breath she was holding making her light headed but she wasn't going to risk exhaling if it would mean that the car moved with her weight.

Daryl heard Rick Grimes telling everybody to hide anywhere they could. It was then when he saw why the Idiot was freaked out. Hell even Daryl paled slightly at the sight of many Walkers headed their way.

'I can't see where Ann went!' He looked around quickly and didn't have the time to look further. He moved around stealthily and noticed a damn Walker about to snatch up T-Dog who was injured. 'DAMMIT! Stupid ass sumbitch!' Daryl cursed angrily and grabbed the Walker's neck and drove his blade into its head killing it. Daryl moved T-Dog who protested slightly.

"Lay there and don't move ya fucking idiot." Daryl whispered harshly for better cover he placed a dead body over T-Dog to hide him from the Horde. Daryl had no choice but to do the same thing. He heard the Walkers moving past the two of them and he held his breath in terror.

'Ann Ah swear ta GOD ya'd betta be okay or Ah'm gonna be real pissed off!' He silently pled. Truth be told Daryl was scared out of his freaking mind right now. He'd never been so scared if any of those things managed to sniff out just one of them then it be a fucking free-for-all! 'Please don't let her git hurt! Please! I don't pray cause Ah don't really care if yer there or not but if'n ya are there just let her be safe!'

Ann noticed that there was no sounds anymore from the Walkers.

'Holy shit did that just actually work? Oh THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!' She prayed in relief but then she heard a hiss and Sophie started to shriek a bit. 'NO! DON'T DO THIS!' Ann whimpered in terror. Ann finally had enough and popped the trunk open unable to hear Sophie whining and trying to get away from a Walker. She saw Sophie drop down a hill while two Walkers followed her. Rick leapt over the guard rail trying to keep up with them.

Ann came to rest near another car which was close to Kim and Lori who was trying to console Kim because it her daughter that was now running for her life. Ann breathed in finally filling her lungs with air only to have that air snatched away. She also found herself being pinned against the hood of the car by a lean body while her mouth was being occupied with a different mouth. Seems Daryl had damn near tackled her when he had seen she was still alive. He was now pinning her to the car hood putting all his fear, love and relief into this kiss. After a few seconds Ann moved her hands through his hair returning the kiss in the same fashion.

The kiss was rapidly going past G rating into another degree when Glen cleared his throat beside them.

"Uhm if you two are done trying ta create Dixon the next generation…" Glen felt the blush fill his cheeks when they both broke away and glared at him. "T-Dog's hurt…"


	5. BrotherInLaw Bonding

"Well T-Dog is in luck, because I found this." Ann admitted after she pushed Daryl off of her who gave a growl of protest at the interrupt. Ann held up the med-kit she found and opened it up. "How was he hurt?" She asked and noticed the wound on her black friend's arm. "Shit! Do ye got anymore liquor Daryl?"

"We drank it the other night…" He muttered and then hit Glen in the back of the head. "Thanks a helluva Cheech and Chong!" Getting a kicked puppy look from Glen.

"Daryl sweetie, Cheech and Chong were Latinos, not Asian." Ann corrected him getting Daryl, Glen and T-Dog to stare at her in shock. "Oh just because my brother and his best friend are cops Ah'm not allowed to watch Stoner movies?" She rolled her eyes and grabbed up a towel that Shane had soaked with water from the Water Supply Truck. She cleansed T-Dog's wound and winced. "There's no stitch kit in here so I cain't close it up. Somebody get me a road flare from one of the other cars! Shane grab me up another towel!" Dale handed her the road flare he just came across looking curious as to what she was about to do. Shane tossed her the towel and she looked at Glen. "Grab me one of those rocks from the side of the road! NOW!" She yelled at him when he hesitated. "here bite onto this T-Dog…"

Ann shoved a wad of another cloth into his mouth. She quickly lit the road flare and sprayed the rock with the flames from it. She grabbed the rock up in the towel Shane gave her and landed the burning rock onto T-Dog's open wound making him scream in pain. Thankfully the scream was muffled by the cloth in his mouth and she pulled the rock away and tossed it to the ground. She quickly took the medical gauze and stuck it on the wound and managed to secure it into place with the medical tape she found in the med-kit.

"It ain't gonna hold too long but at least it's not bleeding right now. We need to find a sew kit sooner or later because, if ya put too much stress on the wound it will start bleeding again. More than likely we're looking at infection."

Rick came back empty handed and Kim gave him an incredulous look and he looked over at Daryl.

"Lost her trail after I lured the two walkers away. Dixon how good are your tracking skills?"

"Are you shitting me! Ah'm the one that gets most of the food!"

"A simple yes or no Daryl…" Rick glared at him. "I need yer help." Rick looked like he was about to stick his tongue against a light socket. Ann rolled her eyes Rick needed to grow up!

"Wow you really don't like asking me for help…"

"You have NO idea…"

Ann walked over to her brother and husband right before they left to find Sophie. She gave them both a warning look.

"Now don't you be killing mah husband ye hear me!" She warned Rick then lightly kissed his cheek. She looked over at Daryl. "And you…! No killing mah brotha!" She hugged Daryl, kissed his cheek then gave him a light peck on the lips. Rick looked put out.

"Playing favorites? How come Daryl got more of a goodbye?" Rick pouted and his little sister gave him a wolfish smirk.

"Sorry Rick, yer not my type." Ann admitted making Daryl snicker into her hair. Rick's face paled when he realized how that had sounded.

"What? NOOOO!" Rick put his hands up in defense. "I just meant…" Ann giggled as Shane shook his head and patted Rick's shoulder.

"Walked yerself into that one buddy…"

"Shut up…" Rick grumbled embarrassed as hell.

Daryl and Rick started away and Ann called them for a second.

"Oh and boys!" She waited until they stopped and faced her again. "If either one comes back with the other yer going ta git the next hot coal so far up yer ass yer going ta need the Heimlich maneuver ta get it out!" Ann grinned at them again. "Have fun!"

"yes ma'am." Rick grumbled and started away as Daryl winked at her and followed behind Sheriff Idiot.

Daryl looked around the spot that Rick had told him he had left Sophie.

"You sure it was this spot?"

"Yeah I left her RIGHT here." Rick admitted getting a bit frustrated. "She was gone by the time I got back here." Rick looked over to the direction he told her to go to get back to the highway. "I told her to go that way and to keep the Sun on her left shoulder."

Shane and Glen followed behind them offering to help look.

"Hey short round! Ya mind moving off of the trail?" Daryl snapped at the kid still pissed off with him that he had interrupted his kiss with Ann.

"She should know her left from her right." Shane shook his head and Rick looked around again.

"Kid's tired and scared man! She was probably turned around somehow."

"Got her footprint over here. She was doing what ye said and heading back to the highway. Let's spread out and look." Daryl ended the bickering between Rick and Shane before it got any louder.

Daryl gave Rick a hand up and helped him up the ditch.

"Hey we're going ta find her. Probably hiding in bush somewhere." He tried to sound civil for Ann's sake. Daryl followed the ground closely and looked for anything that might show up. "She was doing just fine until right here." Daryl nodded his head over to the right. "She veered off that way."

"Why would she do that?" Glen asked curiously.

"Maybe she saw something." Shane offered calmly. "Spooked her and she ran off."

"Walker?" Glen asked worriedly.

"There is another set of footprints…" Daryl muttered staring at the ground.

Meanwhile with the Highway gang.

Dale sighed at the others and started to look for ways to move the cars out of the way. That way when Rick and them came back with the kid they wouldn't have to bother with the broken down autos.

"Anybody have an idea as to how we move these dang cars outta the way?" He asked the remaining survivors.

"We can hot wire them, ya know turn them on, then push them into the median." Ann offered and Dale gave her a slight sarcastic look.

"And does anybody know how to hot wire cars…?" He asked patronizingly.

"Lori can." Ann admitted with a snicker when her sister-in-law punched her shoulder.

"Shut up!" She snapped harshly.

"Wait! Lori can hot wire cars?" T-Dog asked curiously cradling his bandaged arm.

"Good going!" Lori glared at Ann who shrugged with an impish grin.

"Gotta use our GOD given talents."

"My older Cousin Jimmy was a car thief. It's how I met Rick. Jimmy taught me how to hot wire cars." Lori begrudgingly admitted and they got her to start the cars and help move them out of the way.

After a while of moving the cars out of the way Kim came over to the group.

"Why aren't we all out there looking?" She asked worriedly as Shane and Glen walked up to them.

"We kind of got kicked off the hunting squad." Glen pouted with a dejectedly puppy look.

"Rick and Daryl are still out there, it's just a matter of time." Shane offered helpfully.

Andrea came over drinking some water.

"Yeah let's talk about what the hell that Herd was doing?" She asked blatantly.

"Yeah I mean all of them just marching along like that?" Glen asked freaked out.

"Herd, huh." Shane chuckled lightly. "That's a great word to describe it."

Ann stood at the guard rail listening for anything that might be coming their way. She was worried that her brother and husband were now out there alone with each other. 'Just remember boys I got that flaming rock still at hand…' She smirked sadly.

Daryl and Rick made their way through the woods.

"Tracks are gone." Rick muttered in despair as Daryl looked over and found another pushed down leaf.

"Nope this way." He motioned to the leaf in the ground and followed the trail some more.

It was five minutes of tracking in silence when Rick couldn't help himself.

"So how exactly did you and Ann end up together?" Daryl looked back at him as if to determine how to answer or if even to answer it and he shrugged.

"Just kind of happened…" They followed some more of the trail. "She was all messed up when we met. First couple days she barely spoke to anyone. Was in shock at what happened at the hospital with you and well everything…"

There was some silence until Daryl started talking again.

"Deputy Dipshit and yer wife managed to just about sever all ties to the girl. She didn't have anybody to run to."

Rick looked surprised that Shane had pretty much deserted her.

"Lori and her locked horns at every turn. I was hunting for food that day and I saw Ann walking through the woods. She told me she was thinking about going home."

Rick gave him a confused look and Daryl sighed in frustration.

"Meaning she was willing to go to an infested city and maybe die!" Rick's face lost all its color but Daryl calmed him down. "Obviously I talked her outta it." Daryl looked more at the ground following a trail that still appeared invisible to Rick. "When the four of us were in Atlanta, ye saw me scratching at my neck right?" Rick nodded and Daryl looked at the ground again following the trail again. "Only had that happen once before, the day my Ma died. I thought it was Merle causing the itch. I found out later that it was Ann, because of what happened at the camp that night."

Rick looked surprised that Daryl had just confirmed what T-Dog had told him about the connection between the two of them.

"I ain't lying when I say I love her."


	6. You did not just say that to my brother!

Ann looked over and saw Carl toting a rolled up cloth. She followed her nephew and he eagerly showed Lori and Shane what he found.

"Mom! Shane look what I found! It's a complete arsenal!" The kid rolled out the cloth and Ann's eyes widened at the blades that the cloth hid. Carl grabbed up the hatchet eagerly and showed it to Shane.

"Whoa there Keemo-Sabe!" Ann warned her nephew as he almost whacked into her body when she walked by. "Careful with that stuff, it's not a toy!" She shared an exasperated look with Lori.

"That's good kid, go give them to Dale." Shane didn't even bother looking at him. Ann gave Shane a look of surprise.

"Can I keep one?" Carl asked his mom and she gave him an incredulous look. Even Ann snickered in sarcasm.

"Are you crazy?" Lori asked her son as Ann stated beside her.

"Hell no ya can't!" Lori looked over Ann and she put her hands up in surrender. "Right sorry, your kid your parenting…got it" Ann walked closer to Shane to see if he needed any water because it was getting hot again.

"Shane tell her to let me keep one!" Carl whined to Shane who shook his head in irritation.

"No! I said go give them all to Dale. NOW GO!" He snapped at the kid who frowned sadly and walked away with the cutlery.

"What was that?" Lori asked angrily to Shane while Ann shoved the car hood down making them look at her.

"Oh that's it! I've had it with this damn soap opera ya three got going on! Ya need to talk to Rick or when this thing comes out in the open we are all going to be caught in the damn crossfire! Do you really want to do that to that kid?" Ann shook her head angrily and stomped off grumbling. "I'm surrounded by five year olds!"

Daryl and Rick moved quietly through the woods until they heard shuffling footsteps. They stopped and crouched down to see what it was. Sure enough it was a dang Walker. Rick motioned for Daryl to go around the back of the Walker. He ran ahead and stopped in front of the Walker and whistled. The zombie looked over at growled at Rick and Daryl took one arrow and managed to embed it into the thing's head.

"Ya know, you are mighty handy with that there crossbow." Rick admitted with a smirk and Daryl tipped his crossbow to his forehead in thanks.

The two of them walked over to the fallen zombie and looked at it. Daryl snatched back his arrow and wiped it on his pant leg.

"Sophia!" He called but didn't hear anything. Daryl looked down at Rick who was examining the corpse. "What are you looking for?" Rick put on some gloves making Daryl a little nervous as to what Sheriff Idiot was considering.

"It's fed recently." Rick pried open the jaw and pulled something out. "Something caught in its teeth."

Daryl looked like he was getting a little green around the gills at what that could mean.

"Only one way to know for sure…" Rick admitted and pulled out his knife. Daryl's eyes widened slightly then gave him a dubious look unsure for a second then shook his head and pulled out his own gloves and knife.

"Here I'll do it, I've gutted enough things to have experience…" Daryl stopped him and went to work. It took a couple tries but Daryl finally managed to crack open the body. Well it was kind of hard to do seeing as Rigor Mortis had sent in quite some time ago. "Now for the bad part." Daryl muttered and reached into the body and started taking out organs that were in the way. He just tossed them off to the side making Rick look like he was very close to either passing out or vomiting. Hell maybe even both and not in that order. "You act like you've never been involved in a gutting before…" Daryl teased his brother-in-law.

"Not like this…" Rick offered swallowing convulsively.

"True enough…" Daryl agreed and finally procured the stomach. "Yeah Hoss had a big meal not long ago, I feel it in there…" He saw Rick break away for a second before upchucking.

"Ye did that on purpose didn't ye?" He came back after wiping his mouth making Daryl smirk.

Daryl opened up the stomach and nudged his knife around until he found something inside.

"Huh looks like he had himself a nice woodchuck for lunch…"

"Well thank GOD for that…" Rick sighed and Daryl nodded. "At least we know…"

"Yep at least we know…"

Ann stood around watching the evening sky turn different colors signaling that the night was fast approaching. She felt the night air blast through and she shuddered slightly. She held her arms across her upper body worrying about Daryl, Rick and Sophia.

Ann walked over and leaned against the wall of the RV just letting the nature sounds lull her into false security. She heard Andrea approach Dale and thus started another debacle.

"Where's my gun?" Andrea asked calmly. "You have no right to take it."

"You don't need that just right now do you?" Dale asked worriedly.

"My father gave it to me. It's mine…"

"I'm just holding on to it for you…" Dale was trying to stay calm but Ann could hear another argument in the works. Of course here comes Shane to 'fix' everything.

"Everything cool here?" He asked.

"No I want my gun back."

"I just…" Dale offered nervously.

"Well I told everybody to give all weapons to Dale…" Shane explained.

"You turning in your gun?" Andrea challenged angrily.

"Nope, I'm trained. Misuse of a gun could get somebody hurt or killed." Shane offered calmly.

Glen approached with some more supplies while Andrea stalked off.

"Hey they're back." He nodded his head.

Ann looked down the way and saw Rick and Daryl. She was very relieved that they were back, but still upset because she didn't Sophia with them. She made her way over to the group to listen and stepped over the guard rail to hug Daryl who looked a bit distressed.

"You okay?" She asked quietly, and he shook his head quietly.

"Aw it's nothing…."

"You didn't find her?" Kim asked heartbroken.

"The trail went cold." Rick informed her trying not to get killed by an angry mommy.

"It's getting dark, and you're just going to leave her out in the woods?" Kim started getting antsy and Rick braced for the angry words.

"Looking in the dark is useless, we'd just be tripping all over ourselves. More people could get lost." Daryl offered sadly and looked over at Ann who lightly touched his shoulder.

"She's just 12 she can't be left out in dark by herself!" Kim was starting to get on Ann's nerves and from the bickering between Shane/Lori, Dale/Andrea, and now Kim she was going to snap soon and it was not going to be pretty. "Is that blood?" Kim asked Daryl and Ann snapped around to look and gave Daryl a worried look.

"We took down a Walker but Sophia wasn't anywhere near him." Rick tried to calm the woman.

"How could you know that?" Ann asked not sure if she wanted to hear this.

"We cut the sumbitch open, we made sure." Daryl admitted and well if that didn't lead to an awkward silence among survivors then nothing will!

"Hope to GOD ya'll gloved up! OR else ye ain't touching me at all tonight." Ann warned Daryl who turned a bit red in the cheeks before Rick clearing his throat shut them up again.

Kim sat down on the guard rail with Lori and she gave Rick a sorrowful look.

"How could you just leave her out there…How could you just leave her?" Kim accused Rick who looked ashamed and Ann felt the final thread holding her Grimes temper in check stretch and finally snap apart.

Ann's eyes narrowed dangerously and she started for the woman being comforted by Lori.

"Aw hell no! You did NOT just say that to mah brotha!" She hissed out angrily and stalked forward seeing Rick's face fall at the anger that Kim has bestowed upon him. "Oh bitch you betta hope I don't git a hold of you!" She growled venomously as Shane used one arm to pick her up off the ground.

"Careful there darlin'!" Shane warned her but she tried to twist out of his grip.

"Yeah I know yer scared about Sophia but you don't git to say that about mah family and expect to git away with it!" Ann snapped out acidly. "Shane I swear ta GOD if ye don't get your arm off of me I will rip it off and bitch slap ya with it!" Ann gave Shane a look of pure fury.

"Ann ya need ta calm down!" Shane offered but got an elbow into his ribs for his trouble. He grunted in pain and let Ann go.

"AH AM SO SICK AND TIRED OF YOU IDIOTS THINKING THAT YA'LL CAN JUST GO AROUND AND YELL AT EACH OTHER WHENEVER YA FUCKING SEE FIT! And you…!" Ann pointed to Andrea enraged. "IF YOU WANT TO DIE SO MUCH THEN ALLOW ME TO JUST GRAB A GUN AND DO IT MYSELF! JUST SO WE CAN GET RID OF YER FUCKING WHINING! EVERYTHING SINGLE ONE OF YOU NEEDS TO GROW THE HELL UP! WE'RE AT THE END OF THE DAMN WORLD AND ALL OF YA'LL ARE JUST WASTING TIME PISSING AND MOANING ABOUT THIS AND THAT! I AM OUTTA HERE!" Ann stormed off and as Daryl tried to lay his she snapped around and shoved his hand off angrily. "DON'T TOUCH ME!" She growled and stalked down the road and started to kick in the side of the one of the many cars abandoned on the road.

Glen blinked in surprise and nobody was talking until he said muttered.

"Damn…." He grumbled while everybody dispersed for the night.


	7. How about a Truce?

After giving Ann some alone time with the car she was currently beating up she sagged into the dented metal. She breathed in and noticed for the first time that nobody had bothered her.

"Stupid Grimes Temper." She muttered sadly, now they all probably thought she was a freak.

"Actually it's a temper that makes ya more hot…" Daryl informed her as she spun around and found him perched up on the guard rail near the car she was at.

"How long have you been there?" She asked worriedly.

"Long enough to know I got me a helluva spit-fire hidden by a sweet and nice gal…" He admitted as he hopped off of the guard rail and sauntered over to her. "What you said over there, was so damn hot!" He gave her a look she'd never seen on his face, it was one of pure animalistic drive. He wrapped an arm around her body and hauled her back over the guard rail and had her pinned into the dewy grass on the other side.

"Where the hell did Dixon go?" Shane snapped looking around the highway after an hour had passed. Glen managed to point in one direction and Shane turned to look and grimaced in disgust at seeing Dixon and Ann walked back towards them in a sorry state.

Ann bit her lip embarrassedly and tried to sooth down her matted hair. She managed to get most of the twigs and leaves out but there were still some stuck in the lower part. She also had some impressive grass stains on the back of her clothes.

Daryl smirked smugly back at Glen who shook his head in amusement. Daryl wasn't in any better state than Ann. His hair was slightly mussed up and his sleeveless shirt was completely askew. Glen saw the dark mark on Daryl's collarbone and started to snicker before he laughed hysterically. He motioned Daryl to look at his collarbone when he saw what Ann had done he gave her an incredulous look. She just shrugged innocently.

"Sorry." She admitted while her cheeks turned bright red.

The next morning Shane rolled out the cutlery cloth and wanted everybody to take one weapon.

"Everybody takes a weapon." Shane told them as Andrea gave him an exasperated look. Ann knocked her slightly out of the way and grabbed up a smaller hatchet.

"These aren't exactly as effective as guns…" Andrea started yet again as Ann rolled her eyes.

"Ain't getting no argument from me." Daryl admitted that she had a point but it was all they had.

"We really don't need everybody popping the guns off at all the trees when they get jumpy." Shane tried to quell the anger again.

"Not the trees I'm worried about…" Andrea let out another one as Ann pulled out the hatchet she took.

"I swear ta GOD if'n ya don't stop I will make ya stop!" Ann bit out getting more agitated.

"Chances are the kid will be by the creek." Daryl informed everybody and Rick added on to that.

"Stay sharp, always keep each other within sight of each other."

"T-Dog, I think ya'd betta sit this one out." Ann informed the black man who gave her an angry glare. "Your arm isn't even CLOSE to being healed yet. You go traipsing out in those woods and bust that damn thing open again…" Ann added and T-Dog begrudgingly pouted. "Not unless ya want me ta get another hot rock ta put on it…" Ann offered making T-Dog pale again.

"No ma'am." He grumbled and sat back down and Dale felt bad for him and decided to stay behind with him.

"Well might as well have some of us stay behind in case Sophia comes back and finds basically everyone gone…"

"Good idea Dale. Also…" Ann got closer to Dale to whisper so T-Dog couldn't hear him. "He's almost on the cusp of a fever keep an eye on him."

"Will do Mrs. Dixon." Dale teased the younger girl who blushed a bit before heading off behind the rest of them.

Ann shook her head at her nephew, that boy would've grown up to be a politician for sure. The way he talked himself into the hunt for Sophia left his father, her brother lost in translation. Lori didn't look happy that Carl was coming but at least they had more man-power even if he was a kid.

Ann walked behind Shane while Carl stopped and waited for Shane to catch up. Carl was excited to show him that they finally let him have a blade.

"You see it Ann?" He showed his aunt with pride making her smirk.

"Yeah kid, just don't try ta jag it to me like ya almost did earlier…" She warned the boy who looked down in embarrassment.

"Sorry about that Aunt Ann."

"It's okay…"

"Keep it down!" Shane snapped at the two of them.

Carl walked more forward and caught up with Lori who had heard what happened.

"I think Shane's mad at me…" Ann moved quicker and caught up with the two.

"Nah kid, he's probably mad at me fer elbowing him last night…" Ann admitted getting a small smirk from Lori. "Dang I probably hurt his ego more than my elbow." She admitted to her sister-in-law getting Lori to snicker slightly and patted her shoulder.

This whole thing with Lori and Ann was getting better, while the friendship with Shane started to get a little worse.

"Hey kid why don't ya go up and show Glen your blade?" Ann offered and the kid trotted off to bother the Asian kid.

"So Mrs. Dixon, what's married life like?" Lori asked conversationally.

"No dull moments with Daryl."

"Yer brother was sooo pissed off when he saw that ring on ye." Lori admitted with a laugh.

"Why'd ya hate me so much?" Ann asked curiously and Lori sighed sadly.

"Ah was jealous of ya."

"Of me?" Ann asked in surprise.

"Well yeah, ya have this friendship with both Rick and Shane that Ah ain't neva going to have…"

"Ah'm also the one that gets the damn fake spider in the bathtub. The one the gets the bucket of icy water on the door frame, and all dates scared away by mah brotha's impressive artillery collection! Yer saying yer jealous of that?" Ann snapped at Lori in shock and Lori winced.

"Well when ya put it like that…"

"Hell if anything I should be jealous of you Lori. They both love ya and would bend over backwards and juggle with their feet if they felt you'd like them more!" Lori gave a slight giggle and Ann smirked. "So truce?" She asked holding out her hand to Lori who grinned and nodded.

"Hell yeah!" She took Ann's hand and they shook.


	8. oh god Carl no!

Lori and Ann noticed the group had stopped and was looking at a camping tent.

"Sophia might be in there." Daryl muttered looking unsure and Rick nodded. He and Daryl approached the tent carefully in order to check it out. Ann moved past the group to watch over her boys as Kim looked at her guiltily.

"Ann Ah'm sorry about what I said last night…"

"Yeah well Ah ain't the one ya should be apologizing to." She snapped acidly at the scared mother. "I git you're scared and worried but Ah will say this only once." Ann held up her hatchet and had a deadly look in her eyes. "You eva say anything like that again to any of mah family…" Ann paused and leaned closer to Kim with a sliver of ice in her eyes. "Then that little girl will be coming back ta find herself without a mother…" Ann's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You get me?" Ann ended and Kim nodded going pale.

Ann relaxed when Lori patted her shoulder with a sardonic smirk. Glen shook his head at two women.

"damn I can see why Dixon loves ya."

"Kim! Come here and see if you can get a reaction. To see if Sophia is in there before Daryl checks inside." Rick ordered the freaked out woman. Rick then smirked thankfully at his sister revealing that he had heard what she warned the woman.

"Sophia…?" Kim started but her voice wasn't that strong. She was probably still a little shaken that Ann had told her if she screwed up again she was dead. "Sophia sweetie it's mommy…" Ann rolled her eyes in exasperation. After hearing no response then Daryl, Rick and Shane checked the tent out.

Daryl winced when he saw the dead body in the chair. The corpse's head was blown clean off as the hand of the body held the gun. Daryl snatched up the gun and hid it in the waistband of his pants and exited the tent.

"Ain't her." He informed them and Kim frowned again in despair.

"What is in there?" Ann asked knowing that Shane had started gagging.

"Some guy. He opted out…" Daryl explained and Ann shook her head knowing that whoever had been in that tent had thought it best to kill themselves instead of trying to survive.

Then suddenly off in the distance they all heard Church bells ringing. They started to follow the sounds hoping that maybe if Sophia heard them she would follow them also.

"Somebody must be ringing them." Glen pointed out hopefully.

"Maybe she found them already." Shane offered but Rick thought about it more.

"Or maybe she's ringing them herself. Let's move!" He ordered the rest and they started to move faster keeping watch for any straggling walkers.

After a while of moving through the woods they finally found a small wooden building that looked like it could be a church but it was lacking what they heard.

"That can't be it…" Shane muttered more to himself. "It's got no steeple or bells…" Rick didn't listen to him and moved closer to the entrance of the building.

They hurried through the quaint cemetery to the front door while Ann looked around and grumbled to the others survivors.

"Am Ah da only one, that thinks it's a bad idea to go running through a cemetery during the zombie apocalypse?" She offered drolly and Glen shot her an amused look and shook his head. "At least I ain't alone. Lead away pizza man!" Glen snickered and shook his head again.

"Yep definitely know why Daryl loves ya…"

They managed to get the double doors open and looked inside the small chapel. Ann's eyes widened in terror at seeing two or three walkers sitting there in Sunday clothes. They turned around at the intrusion and growled.

"Screw the cemetery, we're gonna be eaten at the altar!" She grumbled darkly and felt a hard punch to her shoulder. She looked at Shane who gaped at her in horror.

"Yer not being funny!" He hissed at her angrily.

"Ah wasn't trying ta be…" Ann snapped back looking at the walkers who were now standing.

Ann noticed she wasn't the only one staring at the church walkers. She looked over at Shane, Rick and Daryl who were momentarily stunned at what they saw.

"Boys, attacking would be a good idea right about now…" Ann snapped sarcastically and the three of them walked through killing the damn things. Ann saw Rick take out the taller one with a couple hits. Shane got another down with one sharp object through the eye. Daryl took out the woman walker by distracting her first then with one swoop he managed to kill her.

Ann stared at Daryl who shuffled slightly.

"What?" He asked indignantly.

"Did you really just distract it by making kissy noises?" Ann asked and Daryl just smirked at her and winked before he made a brief kiss face at her.

Ann felt her cheeks turning red and she shook her head.

"Ah married an idiot…" She laughed sarcastically and Daryl pouted slightly but Ann smirked back at him. "At least yer a cute idiot." She kissed his cheek making him smirk again. It was then they noticed that both Shane and Rick were still slamming their weapons into their respected walkers. "Uhm, guys…" She offered warily. "Ah think ya got em'…" She shared a worried look with Daryl who just shrugged. "They seem to have some pent up anger issues…" She surmised to Daryl who snorted in laughter.

"No shit darlin'." He kissed her sweetly. "By the way, Ah still have ta pay ya back fer that love nip ye gave me last night…"

Kim walked through the small chapel looking for Sophia but to no avail. Daryl looked at the statue of Christ on his Cross and quirked his head.

"Hey J.C. you doing any requests?" Daryl asked and Ann smacked him in the head. He gave her a surprised glare.

"Hon, we already have the wrath of hell raining down on us, we don't need the wrath of heaven also…"

"Fair enough…" Daryl smacked her butt and she squeaked. "What ya thought ye could just smack me without payback?"

"I told ya it was the wrong church Rick. There's no steeple." Shane bit out in annoyance. As if on cue the church bells started ringing again and they hurried outside to find it was an automated sound system. And it was set to go off at specific times.

"You were saying Deputy Dipshit…" Daryl smirked wolfishly at Shane who glowered back at him.

Kim sighed and informed everybody that was going back in. She walked back inside the church and sat in the first pew. Ann stood against the back wall beside Daryl as Kim quietly prayed to GOD.

"Father forgive me. I wanted to pray for safe passage for everybody. When Ed hit me, I begged ya to put a stop to it. Now it's granted but he died for it to happen. I don't know what to do and Ah'm so scared. Ah'm worried about my little Sophia. She's alone out there and Ah just…" She kept praying and it was getting really hard to remain mad at her for going off on her brother.

Ann didn't even realize when she reached and took Daryl's hand in her own as they heard the heart-wrenching prayer from Kim. She didn't realize the one random tear fall down her face but she did feel Daryl squeeze her hand back. She gave him a sad look then with a watery smile she left the church feeling like she was intruding. Daryl and Carl followed her out and she sat on the last step. She felt Carl sit beside her and hug her.

"It's okay Aunt Ann." Ann heard her nephew's words and she let out a small sobbing laugh and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"Sure kid…" She offered with a unsure smile.

Shane approached the gang after talking to Rick and took a deep breath.

"Okay everybody I want ya ta follow the creek back to the highway. Daryl yer in charge lead them there. Rick and I are just going to hang back and comb the area some more. We still got a couple hours of light might as well not waste it…"

"Yer just splitting us up…?" Daryl asked worriedly. "You sure?" He asked again.

"Yeah take care of the kid…" Shane asked but Carl just had to pull his 'future politician' scheme.

After a while of debating and whining from the child Rick shot Lori a look and caved in. Ann sighed in exasperation and walked up to her brother.

"Well Ah cain't just let ya'll walk around ta trip and break something! I stay to, this way I can set anything you idiots mess up." Rick started to shake his head at her idea and she moved forward. "After what happened last night, yer going to make me walk back with Kim and Andrea. Ah cannot guarantee that one or both of them won't be dead when you get back…"

Shane shrugged at Rick who didn't like this idea but nodded.

"Okay you stay, everybody else should get moving soon if ya'll want to make it back before dark." He informed the other group.

Daryl grabbed Ann's wrist and gave her a worried look. Ann frowned at his expression it was like he never expected to see her again.

"Oh for the love of…It's not like it's for good! We're just saying around in case Sophia had heard the bells and is still following the sound. We'll be back before ya know it!" Daryl only nodded and then kissed her not knowing why he was so freaked about being away from her.

Daryl didn't like this idea, but trying to tell Ann what to do was like trying to spark a flame with a pair of feathers.

'At least Ah don't have that damn itch in my neck. Ah'm worrying over nothing!'

Daryl handed Lori the gun that he had found in the tent. So she didn't have to take Rick's leaving him unarmed. Andrea scoffed and walked away from Lori.

"Watch it Lori, she's gonna be on the rampage now…" Ann admitted to her sister-in-law. Lori snorted in derision.

"Her I can handle…"

"Hey if it makes ya feel better you have my permission to pop a cap in her…" Ann offered and Lori shared the slightly snicker with her before patting her shoulder.

"Take care of them Ann."

The group started to head off when Daryl stopped them and walked back to Ann. He kissed her for a couple seconds before resting his forehead on hers.

"Ah love you…" he admitted quietly and she kissed him back and smirked.

"Ah love ya to." He heard her say it and he gave her a small grin and walked back over to the group. And then they were gone leaving the four of them there.

Ann watched Carl kick at some leaves on the ground while Rick went back inside the church to have his own words with the Lord. Shane came to rest beside her as they watched the child wander around waiting.

"Dixon really does care for ya don't he?" Shane asked quietly.

"Yeah, Ah guess he does…"

"Ya know if he hurts ya in any way I will kill him…I mean ye are the closest thing to a little sister that I never had."

"And probably neva wanted…" Ann smirked but Shane gave her a sad smile. "What?"

"That's exactly what Rick said at Carl's birthday party when ya left the kitchen."

"Well Grimes minds think alike…" Ann offered making Shane laugh out loud for the first time in weeks.

"Wow that was stupid…"

"It might have been a stupid joke but ye still laughed…" Ann smirked triumphantly.

Rick finally came out of the church and walked down the steps.

"Get what you needed?" Shane asked but Rick kept moving.

"Guess we'll find out…" Was all he said.

Ann patted Carl's shoulder as they got up to follow.

"Come on kid let's get moving…"

Daryl was busy leading the group when Kin finally sat down for a rest.

"So this is it? This is the whole plan?" She asked and Daryl rolled his eyes.

'Lord this lady was starting to grate on his last nerves!

"Well it is better ta cover more land…" Daryl offered but then Andrea opened her mouth again and Daryl shot Glen a look of 'can I shoot one of them?'

"Carrying knives and pointy sticks…" Andrea bit out sarcastically. She then looked at Lori and frowned. "I see you have a gun…" She snapped glibly while Lori shot Daryl her own look of irritation. She handed the gun to Andrea.

"Here take it. Ya want it take it…I'm sick of the looks yer giving me." Lori challenged and Andrea took it hesitantly. Then Lori sat on the log and looked at Kim. "I can't imagine what yer going through and I would do anything to stop it, but ya gotta stop blaming Rick. It is in yer face and every time ya look at him. What Ann said is completely right ya can't expect ta say stuff like that and think she'll let you get away with it. Rick didn't hesitate to run after Sophia, I don't know if any of us would have run after her like he did. Nobody could have made the decisions he did and think they could make it any different. Ah mean if you think ya can do this without him then nobody is stopping ya go right ahead!" Lori took a drink of her bottled water. Andrea then handed the gun back over to Lori without saying another word.

Daryl gave Lori a head nod of agreement. Lori figured that she had just won his trust faster than Shane and Rick would have.

"Well let's get moving…" Daryl muttered and they started off again.

Rick, Shane, Carl and Ann ambled through the woods keeping both an eye and ear open for movement.

They stopped because they heard movement and waited until whatever they heard came into view. It was only a deer, well it was actually a Buck but Carl looked at it in awe. It lightly shook its fur making a cute little fluff sound. Ann smirked slightly at the animal untouched by the evil of the world. Still managing to maintain its natural grace. Ann's grin faded as Carl started to move closer towards the animal.

"Rick…" She warned but was shushed by her brother as Carl went closer. "If that critter gets spooked by anything it stands on its hind legs and punches with its front legs…." Ann offered worriedly only to get an exasperated look from Shane. Ann sighed in defeat knowing this could end well, or end badly, God was she right…she didn't want to be right…Carl had been almost close enough to the deer to touch it when one random gunshot rang out killing the deer going through it and hitting Carl. Carl went down way too fast which meant whoever shot was close enough to push down the target with the bullet. Ann paled and cried out for her nephew.

"OH GOD CARL NO!" She cried as she Rick and Shane ran to the fallen boy's side.


	9. 1 down 5 to go

A heavy set man came out of the brush with a horrified expression. He held a hunting rifle in his hand and paled at the small child that had been accidently hit.

"Oh GOD! I didn't see him standing there!"

Ann nodded sadly but saw Shane go after the man angrily.

"SHANE NOT NOW!" She yelled angrily as she tried to see what was going on with her nephew. "Ah need ye over here!" Shane glared at the man but ran back over to Ann's side. "Ah need you and Rick to roll him onto his side as carefully as ye can!" It took a few seconds but they managed to roll Carl to his side as Ann felt at his back. She grimaced angrily and shook her head. "No exit wound, the damn thing's still in there!" Ann looked around worriedly. "Ah don't got anything ta dig it out with!"

The heavy man approached shakily and looked at them mournfully.

"The place Ah'm at, they got a doctor. If anything can help the kid he can."

"What's yer name?" Rick asked his face going more pale.

"Otis, Ah can show ya the way…" Otis offered ready to fully atone for his mistake.

Ann saw Rick and Shane's dubious expressions and she knew they had to move fast.

"Rick grab me some of the leaves from that tree. The leaves are used in an aloe that stops infection. Shane go scrape off some sap from another tree!" Ann yelled at them spurring them into action. "Otis right..?" She asked and the man nodded. "Help me lift his shirt up…"

"You know what yer doing?"

"Well considering I was a nurse…"

"I was an EM." Otis admitted and helped her get Carl's shirt up. Ann managed to use the leaves and sap to paste them together and press it against the entrance wound. "I need a pressure bandage of some kind." Ann ripped her shirt off leaving her tank top underneath. She wrapped the covered wound and asked for Otis' belt and she wrapped the whole thing up with the belt creating a temporary plug for the wound. "Show mah brother Rick where to go." Rick lifted his son into his arms and they all starting running as fast as they could listening to the yelled directions of Otis.

Otis being heavier than the rest of them started to slow down unable to run anymore. Shane ran back and started to shove him angrily.

"COME ON AND GET YER ASS MOVING!" Shane bit out venomously.

"SHANE LEAVE HIM THE HELL ALONE!" Ann yelled back angrily as Rick looked back.

"HOW FAR?" He yelled at Otis and Otis answered how far it was to the ranch house that he was currently living at. Rick was off again like a shot Ann looked worriedly at Shane then to Rick unsure which way to go.

"DAMMIT ANN GO WITH HIM!" Shane yelled at her and she nodded and followed her brother.

Ann ran alongside her brother as she kept watchful eye on the child in his arms. She kept making mental notes as to the pallor of Carl's skin, and the fact he hadn't even woken up yet.

"It'll be okay Rick…Ah promise." She cried to her brother still managing to keep pace with him.

"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!" He yelled back at her acidly.

They finally saw a decent sized house in the middle of nowhere and Ann screamed as loud as she could.

"HEY WE NEED HELP!" As they both ran even faster than they could've. "SOMEBODY!" Rick was starting to look peaked and about to fall over. "Come on Rick just a little farther we can do it!" She urged her brother. "Ah can carry him the rest of the way if'n ya like.."

"NO! Ah got em'!" Rick bit out willing to run to the end of the universe for his son.

They finally got close enough to the family that was standing on the front porch ready to assist if they could.

"Was he bit?" The older man asked Ann kind of liked how the man seemed to emit calmness and trust.

"He was shot, by your man." Rick offered starting to finally break down into near sobs.

"Otis?" A woman asked worriedly.

"Help me!" Rick sobbed filled with anguish Ann let herself start to cough at finally managing to slow down enough to let the air catch up to her lungs.

Ann met a girl that was a little younger than herself.

"You okay?"

"Lungs are burning, been a while since I ran like that. Ah'm Ann."

"Maggie." The short haired girl answered as they both ran into the house.

"Maggie get the pain killers and coagulant." The older doctor ordered his daughter and Ann moved forward as he ordered people around.

"Ah'm a nurse Ah can help with anything ya need…" She offered but the forced air into her lungs made her cough again.

"Not until ya get your breath back and some rest ya don't."

"He's mah nephew!" Ann argued but the old man wouldn't back down. Ann sat down heavily on the chair letting herself feel the after effect of running so hard. "Bullet's still in there!" Ann coughed again and thankfully took the glass of water the woman gave her. "Thanks…"

"Name's Patricia."

"Ann." Ann looked over as the old man looked confusedly at the leaves. "It's leaves from a Charsling Tree. It was to help slow down infection if it could." She offered and the old man gave her an impressed nod.

"Name?" The old man asked Rick. Who was still at a loss. Ann nudged her brother slightly and he started to ramble a bit before he got the word out.

"Ah'm Rick."

"Yer going ta need ta leave us ta work son…" The man ordered and Rick nodded going on autopilot.

Rick and Ann backed out of the room and near the main doorway. Ann patted Rick's shoulder and nodded her head outside. HE looked and saw that Otis and Shane had finally caught up and Shane looked like hell.

"RICK!" He hollered worriedly. Ann followed her brother out the door because he looked worse than she did.

The two others approached and saw how bad they both looked from heat exhaustion.

"Is he alive? He still alive?" Otis sounded so freaked out that Ann couldn't be mad at him.

Rick wasn't talking he was just staring into nothingness.

'This is how I was when Rick's machines turned off!' Ann thought to herself. 'No wonder Shane had been so worried about me those first couple of days.'

Shane helped Rick to clean the blood off of Rick's face and Ann walked over.

"He's goin inta shock Shane. He needs ta sit down." She offered but Rick shook her off and walked back into the house. They followed him in and back into the room where Carl was currently residing. The man looked back at them.

"Do ya know his blood type?"

"A Positive same as mine…"

"A Positive…"

Rick and Ann answered at the same time which got the siblings to smile sadly at each other. Leave it to the Grimes siblings to know the family's blood type.

"Unfortunately Ah'm A negative." Ann answered sadly and looked at her brother.

"It will make it easier to get the transfusions…" The man offered but looked over at Otis. "What happened out there?" He asked quietly and Otis went pale again.

"I was hunting a buck. I didn't see the kid on the other side of him…" Otis offered looking like he had was telling a little kid he had ran over their puppy. Ann touched the heavier man's shoulder.

"It's okay…" She offered wiping tears from her face. "It was just an accident…it's okay…" She held the man's shoulder but he shook his head at her not willing to believe that she should be forgiving him that easily. "Ah'm a nurse we've had hunting accidents come in before…" She explained to the man trying to get him to see that he couldn't have possibly known that Carl was on the other side of that buck.

Rick let out a small cry then shook himself out of his state of mind.

"Lori doesn't know. Shane mah wife doesn't know…" He explained as Shane grabbed his shoulder and hugged him tightly in a brotherly fashion.

Meanwhile with the group that Daryl was leading back to the highway…

Lori stopped and looked back into the woods worriedly.

"Still worrying about it?" Kim asked (AN: yes I know her name is Carol but I was almost finished with my first story and didn't want to go through the whole thing and change it so her name will remain Kim).

"That was a gunshot." Lori snapped back at them and looked over at Daryl who was trying not to look as freaked out as she did.

'I heard the shot to and it made my blood freeze in mah damn veins.' Daryl thought to himself as he scratched at his shoulder feeling a bug land on it. 'Just a bug on me, it's not the same itch!' He worriedly told himself trying to shake the feeling that Ann was in trouble.

"Why only one gunshot?" Lori asked again making Daryl wish she'd be quiet.

"Maybe they got a Walker…" He was trying really hard to not freak out and run back through the woods to find out for himself. He was given a job to do and he was going to do it!

"You know as well as I do that Shane and Rick would kill a Walker quietly. Even Ann knows not to attract attention with firepower!"

Daryl cringed inwardly. 'dammit she just had to bring her up didn't she?'

"Nothing we can do anyway…" Daryl felt his heart fill with sorrow and worry. "We can't go around chasing after them." He snapped at Lori. 'no matter how much I want to.' He added silently to himself.

"So what do we do?" Lori asked knowing she was getting to Daryl by talking about Ann being out there where that gunshot had occurred.

"We do what we were told. We beat the bush looking for Sophia, and make our way back to the highway…" He ended the conversation trying not to let his fear of what that gunshot could've meant.

Glen nodded his head over to where Andrea and Kim were talking quietly to each other. Daryl rolled his eyes at the sight.

"Aw man! They're joining forces…" He grumbled getting irritated as Glen let out a shaky laugh.

"We're all hoping and praying for you for what it's worth." He walked into the last bit of the conversation.

"Ah'll tell ya what it's worth…" Daryl stepped in between them moving on. "We're going ta locate that little girl, and she's going to be just fine." Daryl snapped at them. "Waste of time all this hoping and praying…" He bit out while his inner thoughts were taunting him.

'You say that but you were praying pretty hard to keep Ann safe during that Highway thing…' The voice that sounded like his mother was back. Yeah well they didn't need to know that part…even if it did make him feel like a hypocrite.

Ann sat beside her brother as Shane sat on the other side. She kept a firm grip on Rick's shoulder as she lightly kneaded his shoulder in worried fashion trying to keep Rick from freaking out.

"Why'd I let him come with us?" Rick asked the two of them and Ann rubbed her brother's back.

"Because he pulled his 'future politician' routine and conned ya into it…" Ann offered sadly making Rick give a watery smirk and nodded in agreement as he grabbed her hand and squeezed it with his other hand in a thankful gesture.

"It would've been the same with Lori…" Shane offered quietly.

"It would've been the same with any of them." Ann added even more quietly.

"Yeah Ann's right, Ah guess. That boy would've grown up to a politician with how he can talk his way into things…" Shane agreed with the both of them with a sad laugh.

"A little girl goes missing, you look for her. You said for me to call it for the day but I didn't listen…Carl got shot because…"

"Rick it's just the popular chaos theory. A random series of events that seemed so stupid and miniscule at the moment which ended up leading to a large ass event." Ann explained to her brother.

"We've been there partner." Shane offered sadly thinking about the day he was shot.

"Yeah when you were shot I blackmailed the head nurse Julie Strickler into letting me assist in yer surgery…" Ann admitted and Rick gave her a look of disbelief. "What? I wasn't going to trust anybody else with you ya idiot!"

"That why I got outta that hospital, find my family go through all this shit to have it end here. What is this some sort of sick joke?" Rick bit out starting to lose his self control. He felt his sister grip his shoulder again.

"Is it a sick joke Rick?" Ann asked thinking about everything that had happened in the course of two days. They both looked at her in horror. "I mean think about it. Sophia goes missing gets Kim on yer case it pisses me off while Andrea pulls her 'I want my damn gun' routine. Both of which annoy the piss outta me. We look don't find Sophia you send off Daryl with that group now if I had no reason to be annoyed with them and would've left with the group." She was trying to get them to see what she was saying but only Shane paled in realization. "I wouldn't have had a reason to stay with ya idiots and Carl might've died without immediate care…" Rick stared at her and frowned.

"Are you trying to justify this shit?" He asked dangerously.

"It's all I got!" She snapped angrily.

The door opened and Maggie came out of the room.

"Rick! He needs blood…" She informed them and they walked into the room with her.

Carl had woken up and was freaking out from the pain and terror. Ann tried to help the old doc hold him down as did Rick. Ann saw that the man was digging into the wound trying to remove the shrapnel.

"Stop! Yer killing him!" Rick yelled out in agony. Ann rolled her eyes at her brother.

"Dammit Rick it needs ta be done or else he goes into septic shock!" She yelled back at him getting a nod from the doctor.

"He needs blood!" Patricia Otis' wife yelled at Rick who looked at a loss that his little sister yelled at him like that.

"DO IT NOW!" Shane screamed at him snapping him out of it.

Finally mercifully Carl fell back into the dark void and was quiet again. Shane started to panic but Ann shook her head at him.

"It's okay Shane it's normal." She offered but Shane was still freaking out.

"He just passed out." The old man snapped at Shane who looked paler than he before. He pulled out a pair of clamps and dropped a piece of metal into the bowl. "1 down 5 to go…" When he said that Rick and Shane almost passed out themselves. The doctor gave the two men a wary look and gave an unsure look to Ann who shrugged.

"They've never had ta sit in during an operation…"


	10. Well that was a real good idea!

Ann sat on the other side of the room as her brother gave blood for the transfusion.

"Blood pressure is stable." The man announced to Patricia and Ann.

"Lori needs ta be here. Ah gotta go find her and bring her back…" Rick shook his head.

"Not like that ya ain't…" Ann snapped at him and he glared at her. "Glare all ya want yer not going…"

"Her son is lying here shot!"

"He's going to need more blood and from what I heard from Ann she doesn't have the right type."

Rick left the room but stumbled a bit and refused to accept Shane's help. He sat down in the chair in the living room across from Maggie and Otis. Ann stood by the doorway leaning against it.

"He's stable for now." Shane offered to Otis who just looked like he was about to kill himself with guilt. Ann felt her mind start to drift away back into her dream land state. She missed what was said about Shane threatening to break Rick's legs if he tried to go for Lori himself.

The doctor came out of the room and informed them that Carl was out of danger for the time being.

"I need it to stabilize more before I try for the other pieces."

"Ya saw what it did to him…" Rick snapped

"Yeah and that was the shallowest one." The man admitted and Ann paled in horror. "Also his pressure is falling, that means that one of the fragments nicked one of the blood vessels." Ann sat down and put her head between her knees in despair. "Which means he can't move in there, at all. If he even twitches in the wrong way…" The man sighed sadly. "To even try this I need to put him under…"

"Do you have the instruments for that kind of thing?" Ann asked looking up at him and felt the tears enter her eyes at the sorrowful look he gave her.

"What will it take?" Rick asked seriously.

"You need a respirator." Otis admitted walking over to them.

"And probably some more sutures and medical dressings." Ann added standing up and nodding to Otis.

"If you had all of that could you save him?" Rick asked worriedly.

"I could try…" The man admitted quietly.

"The nearest hospital went up in flames months ago…" Otis shook his head.

"Any other places have supplies? Like a MASH unit?" Ann asked curiously.

"Yeah the high school could have everything you need." The man nodded but Otis paled.

"The place was overrun the last time we saw it. Ya couldn't even get near it."

Shane laughed knowing what was about to happen.

"Ah said I'd do anything Rick. Can't take it back now." Shane stood up and looked at the others.

"I hate ya going alone." Rick shook his head worriedly.

"Oh for the love of…" Ann walked over to Shane's side. "Fine I'll go with him!" And Rick shot her an even more worried look.

"Ann…" He started but she shook her head.

"I can find these things faster and he'll need all the hands he can get to bring them back. I'm going Rick…" Ann gave her brother a serious look that brooked no argument and he sighed in defeat.

"Just make me a list and draw us a list." Shane explained further as he patted Ann's shoulder in relief.

"You don't need a list. I'll take you there." Otis admitted that since this was his fault in retrospect he would do whatever it took to help the kid.

"I should thank you." Rick muttered thankfully.

"You can thank me when that boy of yours is safe."

"Where is she?" Maggie asked Rick. "Yer wife?" She offered to go bring her back. Ann thought about it and approached the younger girl.

"If yer going for Lori, could ya give mah husband a message that Ah'm fine? He is with the group leading them. Because I know Daryl he's going to shoot first ask later, if ya just pop in and tell Lori that Carl is shot and not give any info on what happened to me then you are going to have one seriously pissed redneck hillbilly on yer hands."

"Which one is he?" Maggie asked and Ann smirked sadly.

"He'll be the scruffy one with the crossbow." She admitted with a laugh. Then Maggie was off on a horse no less.

Daryl sighed as he led the group through the woods. Damn his head hurt, he needed a damn drink! Stupid liquor withdrawal.

"It's getting dark, I think we should call it." He admitted to the group. "Make our way back."

The others nodded and started to follow him back to the highway. Man his damn head hurt! STUPID WITHDRAWAL! Now the pain was radiating to his neck.

Shane, Ann and Otis loaded up the pick up truck.

"Ya sure yer going ta be okay with this truck Ann?" Shane asked with a sarcastic smirk. "You haven't had the best of luck with them the past week…"

"Shut up…" She muttered turning red in the cheeks. She saw the confused look Otis gave her. "Do not ask." Rick approached them worriedly.

"Just get the stuff and get out ya both hear me?" He ordered them and they nodded.

"Take care of her Shane…" Rick warned his friend. He then looked at Ann. "Take care of him Ann."

Ann was already sitting in the cab of the truck beside Shane. Otis got in on the other side of Ann giving her the middle of the seat. Ann was scared out of her mind. She couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. But she couldn't back out now.

Shane shook his head as they pulled out onto the dirt road.

"This is turning out to be a strange day." He muttered darkly and Ann gave him a perplexed smirk.

"Didn't it though." Otis nodded with agreement and Ann gave them both the smirk.

"How can this be any weirder than waking up to the dead walking around being hungry?" She asked drolly getting both men to snicker slightly as Shane ruffled her hair lightly.

Daryl kept the group moving listening to anything to might sound like trouble.

"How much farther?" Kim asked while her legs start to hurt something awful.

"Not far, maybe a couple miles, 4 or 5." Daryl admitted trying to keep those two shut up because he did not want a rebellion of estrogen on his hands. Daryl snickered slightly when Andrea walked through a spider web and she bitched and complained about it.

Daryl heard her screaming then.

"Andrea?" Kim yelled worriedly for her as they all ran as fast as they could to get to her. They found her on the ground about to be eaten by a random walker when some short haired girl on a horse came galloping through and knocked the walker down with a bat.

"Lori Grimes?" The girl asked Andrea as the others approached the girl on the horse.

Lori looked over worriedly and rose her hand.

"Carl's been shot." She explained quickly and Lori's face fell and looked like she was about to be sick. "We need to hurry Rick needs you!" The girl ordered and Lori hurriedly got on the horses back. "Also got a message for the scruffy one with the crossbow…" The girl looked at the only two guys in the group.

Daryl had heard that the kid had been shot. Aw shit that was what that gunshot was! But wait where the hell is…did she just say scruffy one with the crossbow…? He looked over at the girl on the horse and nodded.

"Ann says she's fine and not ta worry."

It took him a few seconds for it to register and he smirked slightly that Ann had thought to send him a message.

'She must have known I'd go postal…'

"Ya got others on the highway?" The girl asked and Glen nodded. "Follow the road a few miles then follow the dirt road until you see the mailbox named Green…" They rode off. Daryl couldn't shake the feeling that something else was going on. But he just shook his head and led the group to the highway again. Daryl started to walk away and the walker sat up with a growl.

"Shut up." He snapped and shot an arrow into its head.

Dale blinked in surprise at how few came back and Daryl informed him that Carl had been shot.

"Shot what do you mean shot?" He snapped worriedly.

"Some girl on a horse came riding in like Zorro on his horse and grabbed up Lori." Glen informed him further and Daryl rolled his eyes.

"Rick sent her, she knew Lori, Carl's and Ann's names. Even knew that Ann meant something to me." Daryl admitted to Dale and moved around the road looking for something only he could see.

Andrea brushed past Dale and Glen without even a word.

"Walker attacked her, it was close." Glen informed Dale.

"Andrea are you okay?" Dale asked worriedly and the look that he got back from the blond…well let's just say there are no words to describe what that look was made up of.

Daryl rolled his eyes and approached the two men.

"I swear if she don't stop this crap Ah'm going ta beat Ann to the punch and shoot her mahself." He grumbled making Glen shake his head.

Ann sat hunched into the seat of the truck just listening to the motor running. They managed to stop a bit from the high school so they could scout it out first.

"Aw fuck me…" Ann bit out in annoyance and felt Shane smack her in the shoulder. "Yeah Ah know the language…" She gave Shane a look. "But that sentence perfectly describes this situation…"

"True enough darlin'. True enough." Shane nodded as the three of them watched the massive group of walkers that were still ambling around the front of the school. "Where do we need to go?" He asked Otis who pointed to a small place that was completely surrounded and Ann felt the hysterical giggle surface.

"Of course it's there…" She offered drolly.

Daryl stood off to the side while everybody discussed who was going for the ranch house. Kim was being her usual 'we cannot leave what if Sophia comes back' spiel. So it was decided that Glen would take the Stationwagon and transport T-Dog to the doctor's place because he was really getting sick from the infection in his arm wound. Daryl rolled his eyes and got into his brothers bag.

"Why the hell didn't ya say something…Merle's got everything from extra strength to Vicodin!" He snapped, Daryl knew Merle had used pills for recreational use but at least Ann told him that he might have not been on the Coke Sheriff Idiot found on him. Man he loved that girl.

Ann sat hunched up against the back of the car the light from the Sun had informed them that it was almost gone.

"So what? We're just going to sit here until they get bored?" She whispered worriedly and Shane shot her an amused smirk and slowly and quietly moved to the front of the police car they were at. He opened the front door and popped the trunk. He moved back to her and Otis and took out every road flare he could find before he got the other cop cars flares. The three of them threw all of the flares while they were lit. The walkers followed the lights and wandered around the flares as they ran for the medical truck.

"Ah cannot believe that shit just worked…" Ann admitted shaking her head.

Ann managed to grab up anything that was on her list while Otis filled out his list. Shane was busy making some noise and they both shushed him and shared an amused look as they shook their heads.

They managed to get everything and opened the door and paled when all the walkers turned in their direction.

"Oh, shiiit…" Ann muttered with wide eyes. "Uhm…RUN!" She yelled at the two men.

The three of them hurried through the throng and managed to get themselves into the school but the doors were chained shut. Shane managed to close the outer chain door and locked it. Now they were effectively trapped in a small alcove. The outer door wasn't going to hold forever and the walkers pressing into it and reaching through it came uncomfortably close to grabbing them.

"WELL THAT WAS A REALLY GOOD IDEA!" Ann snapped Shane angrily who glowered at her.


	11. Shane wasn't a cat in a former life

Ann, Shane and Otis finally managed to break off the lock on the door and had started to run through the hallways of the high school. They heard the chain door finally break apart and hungry Walkers chased after them growling and snapping along the way. Ann ran into Shane from behind when he stopped suddenly at the end of the hallway. She looked around him and growled angrily.

"YOU GOTTA BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!" She screamed in disbelief. The other door was chained shut what kind of crap luck was that? 'Shit Daryl Ah wish ye were here right now!' She mentally prayed knowing he'd never hear her words.

Daryl sighed trying to sleep in the middle of the RV floor. It was a toss-up at was keeping him awake the most. Kim with her pathetic cries for Sophia, Dale moving around on top of the RV keeping watch, or Andrea messing about with that damn gun of hers trying to put it back together the right way. He leaned up and glared a bit at the grieving woman in the back and sighed before lying back down on the floor. Daryl finally grunted as he sat up in exasperation. It was obvious he wasn't getting any rest any time soon. So he stood up and left the RV saying he was going to walk the perimeter.

Daryl exited the RV with a sigh of relief and turned his flashlight on. He started away from the road a bit when Andrea came up behind him with another flashlight.

"I'm coming to…" She informed him missing the exasperated eye roll.

'Aw come on man! Ah just wanted some fucking peace and quiet!' Daryl grumbled mentally but he was smart enough not to say this out loud. LORD knew he did not want that crazy ass blond bitch on his case right now.

"We're going for a walk to see if the little girl is around." Daryl admitted begrudgingly to Dale who frowned.

"You sure that's a good idea right now…?" Dale asked worriedly but Andrea shot him another look.

"Dale…" Was the only word she gave him and she walked past Daryl who glared balefully up a Dale and made a gun with his fingers aiming it to his own forehead and doing the action that he just blew out his brains. Dale smirked sadly at the redneck younger man. He knew he was worried about Ann but now he was forced to hang out with Andrea who was obviously grating on the poor boy's last nerve.

Ann kept herself pressed against the wall as she and the other two managed to sidle across the bleachers of the gymnasium. There wasn't many places to go but at least they were out of teeth range.

"Ya know Shane, Ah remember when ya stole the Principal's car…" Ann offered and Shane gave a huffing laugh as he tried to keep his balance. "Neva knew how ya pulled that off…"

"Magic…" Shane offered back and looked around the room. "It's a nice Gym."

"Ah always hated Gym class…" Otis grumbled making Ann pat his shoulder politely.

"So how do we get off of this damn thing?" Ann asked finally and Shane pointed to the windows that were on the far wall. "Oh I just had ta ask!" She snapped annoyed that these two idiots didn't have any back-up plans. Hell they didn't even a front-up plan! "What're ya winging this shit as ya go?" She grumbled angrily which got a smirk from Shane.

"Yeah basically…" Shane admitted drolly and Ann glowered at him.

"You do realize I ain't going to fit into those windows right?" Otis asked in irritation. "Fine how about this I lay ground cover for ya'll and Ah make a break for locker room. They got bigger windows for me."

After 3 rounds of rapid gun fire Otis jumped down off of the bleachers. Something happened and he got his leg twisted up something awful. Shane had already pushed Ann off the opposite end of the seats and forced her up into the window where she tumbled through it and landed roughly but managed to roll away and sit up. She winced when she moved her shoulder and saw the massive bruise starting to branch out on her collarbone. She stood up and dusted off her pants before hearing a gunshot and two thuds behind, and then a sharp yelp of pain. She turned around to see a dead Walker and Shane hobbling trying to stand up on his own wounded leg. Ann rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Un-fucking-believable!" She snapped at Shane as she helped him to stand up. "Well Shane that proves it, ye were never a cat in a former life."

"Shut up…" He whined limping on his twisted ankle.

Ann lugged her own bag of goodies on her shoulder as she helped Shane move faster. They finally met a decent size wall.

"Aw come on!" Ann bit out in exasperation. "WHAT NEXT?" She screamed and more walkers came pouring out from nowhere advancing on the two. "Well shit…" She grumbled hitting her face with an open palm.

Shane managed to toss over his two bags of medical supplies and used them both to support his weight and haul himself over the wall. He was on top of the wall and he reached down for Ann but she was too short to each.

"Ann use yer bag! Ah can tether ya and ya can pull yourself up!" Ann nodded at what Shane called for her to do and swung her medical bag up and he caught the end. "COME ON ANN!" He hollered in fear as a throng of Walkers made their way over to where Ann was. Ann started to make her way up the wall when the strap she was holding onto snapped apart sending her to the ground again. "ANN!" Shane hollered getting more scared.

"Come on Shane just toss it back so I can try again!" Ann hollered but didn't hear a response. She looked up and saw a darkness settle in Shane's eyes. "Shane? Seriously just let's try again…" Ann offered again but Shane gave her a sorrowful look.

"Ah'm sorry Ann…" He shook his head and stood up. "Ah'm so fucking sorry…" He then did something that Ann would never forgive for however long she lived through this shit.

"SHANE?" Ann screamed in horror as Shane jumped down the other side of the wall leaving her there. "SHANE YA'D BETTER GIT YER ASS BACK HERE AND KILL ME CAUSE I SWEAR TA GOD IF AH LIVE THROUGH THIS I WILL FIND YOU AND FUCKING KILL YOU!" Ann looked back at the Walkers that were almost less than 3 yards away from her. "SHANNNNNEEEEEEE!"

She screamed in terror as Shane limped away with the three bags and sobs erupted from his lungs as he heard her screams cease. "Oh GOD Ann please forgive me! Ah'm so damn sorry!" He bit out through his tears.

(AN:/ please don't hurt me all will be explained later)


	12. somebody gotta tell daryl

Daryl tried to not to let on how annoyed being near Andrea was. She was just trying to get away from the crying and Dale's overprotective streak.

"You think we'll find her?" Andrea asked sadly and Daryl shone his flashlight on her face and scoffed.

"You got that look on yer face the same as everybody else." He shook his head. "What's wrong with you people? We just started looking." Andrea let him rant a bit more. "It ain't the mountains it's Savannah Georgia!"

"She's only 12…" Andrea snapped at him and Daryl rolled his eyes again.

"Hell I spent 9 days in the woods eating berries and wiping mah ass with poison ivy…"

"And nobody found you?" Andrea asked not really that interested.

"Mah old man was on a fucking bender, and Merle was doing a stint in Juvie again." Daryl explained with a shake of his head. 'Ann would've listened intently but she's still at the damn ranch house.' "They never knew I was gone." Daryl sighed thinking about Ann and then continued his story. "Got home then made mahself a sandwich. Except my ass itched something awful…" He ended and Andrea finally snickered before laughing out loud. 'Ann wouldn't have snickered aw hell who am I kidding yeah she would've but she would've kissed mah cheek and made me feel betta by telling me an equally embarrassing story.'

"Sorry that was a terrible story." Andrea apologized but failed to stifle her laugh again.

They finally broke through some brush and came across an odd sight.

"What the hell?" Daryl grumbled confusedly.

They saw a Walker hanging by a noose, the person must have hung themselves before they turned. Tried to opt out but screwed up. Daryl looked closer at the note the man had put up on himself. He gave Andrea a pathetic look and waved her over to read it.

"Ah cain't read…" He admitted and Andrea rolled her eyes. He glared at her when he heard her grumble 'dumbass redneck'.

"Got bit, fever hit world gone to shit…"

"Stupid sumbitch didn't know enough to shoot himself in the head." Daryl grumbled. "Now all he is, is just a big swinging piece of bait!" Daryl heard Andrea groan in disgust and gag a bit. "You all right?" he asked with an evil smirk. 'Ann wouldn't have gagged she's used to stuff like this being a nurse and everything.' Daryl loved thinking about her, and he really loved comparing Ann and to Andrea because Ann made her seem like a fucking reject.

"Let's just talk about something else…" Andrea offered trying not to get sick. "Where'd ya learn how to shoot?"

"Gotta eat, look at this idiot strung up like some damn piñata. I can see other Walkers must have come by and stripped the flesh clean off his legs…" Daryl rambled some more and smirked in triumph when he heard Andrea finally vomit behind him.

"Ye did that on purpose…" Andrea stated after spitting and wiping her mouth.

"Call it payback for laughing at my itchy ass." Daryl started off. "let's head back…"

"Aren't you going to?" Andrea motioned to the walker.

"Nope, he ain't no threat right now. Leave him up there it was his choice, he opted out though he kind of screwed it up." He watched Andrea stare at the pathetic creature. "You want to live now or not?" He asked calmly and Andrea looked back at him. "Just a question…"

"An answer for an arrow." Andrea nodded her head over to the hanging Walker. "I don't know if I want to live. Or if I have to maybe it's just a habit…"

"Not much of an answer…" Daryl stated simply but still shot the Walker in the head. "And a waste of an arrow…"

Shane finally pulled into the dirt drive way and the Green family raced out to meet him. He handed all the bags to the doctor who then looked past him worriedly.

"Otis?" He asked but Shane shook his head. "Nobody tells Patricia! I still need her!" The man snapped sadly. He entered the ranch house with his family as T-Dog and Glen walked over to where Shane, Rick and Lori were.

"Shane…?" Rick asked while his eyes narrowed. "Where's Ann?" Shane looked directly into his best friends eyes and Rick felt himself almost get sick right there. "Shane…? Where is mah sista!" He asked again, while Shane's tears started falling again. Rick and Lori watched as Shane fell to his knees in despair.

"She didn't make it Rick!"

Those 5 words seemed to suck the life out of the remaining standing around him. Rick's eyes started watering in confusion as he choked on a sob.

"How…?" He asked feeling his heart breaking in half. Lori gasped and held her hands to her mouth while her eyes widened in horror. Glen looked around confused sadness on his face.

"Ann's gone…?" He asked while Rick's face darkened.

"SHANE HOW DID SHE DIE?" He angrily growled.

"We got separated from Otis, got caught up at a wall without a way out. I used the bags to pull myself up. I told her to throw up her bag and we tried to get her to pull herself up but the damn strap broke. The walkers were already almost on top of her. I had no choice but to move on Rick. Ah just couldn't sit there and watch them rip her apart! OH GOD I CAN STILL HEAR HER SCREAMING FOR ME RICK!" Shane sobbed out and grabbed Rick around his waist in a pathetic hug as Rick ran his fingers through his friend's hair.

"So the one way I saved my son's life, was to sacrifice the life of mah sista…" Rick admitted starting to feel sick to his stomach with guilt. Rick felt his wife hugging him then holding Shane's shoulder as he sobbed. Rick let out a small sob and held onto his wife.

"Somebody needs to go back to the highway. Daryl needs ta know…" T-Dog admitted wiping at his eyes in despair and Glen paled again.

"Oh no I ain't doing it!"

"T-Dog can't because of his arm. Ah can't because I'm still weak from the blood giving. Shane is just, done…" Rick bit out with another sob Lori nodded sadly.

"I'll do it…" She agreed. "We tried to sugar coat it last time with Daryl and that didn't work too well…"

"Shit first his brother now this…" Glen moaned with tears in his eyes.

Dale watched over the road as Kim was back instead the RV trying to relax enough to sleep to no avail. Dale heard a car approaching and his face grew confused. He noticed it was the Station Wagon. It stopped and Lori Grimes slowly got out, there was a somber expression on her face and Dale knew this wasn't good news.

"Dale…?" She asked quietly and he walked over to her worriedly.

"Yeah?"

"Where's Daryl?" She asked feeling her nose trying to run with the tears she was holding back.

"He and Andrea went out in the woods to scout for Sophia…" Dale saw the tears in Lori's eyes. It was never good when Lori Grimes asked where Dixon was while holding back tears. "Why…?"

"Ann's dead." Lori admitted finally letting out some rampant sobs as Dale's eyes widened in horror.

"Ann's…oh dear GOD…HOW?" Dale asked in fear.

"She Shane and the guy that shot Carl went into a small medical unit at the local high school. She got caught by Walkers…we need to tell Daryl." Lori sobbed loudly unable to hold it together any longer. Dale made her go inside the RV to sit and let out her sorrow. He heard Lori inside telling Kim what was going on and she joined her in her tears on the small couch.

Daryl let out a sigh of relief as they finally found the damn highway. Ah sweet relief from the pyscho blond. Dale approached them with an unsure expression. He looked over at Andrea.

"Andrea go into the RV please…" Dale tried to give her an expression to not fight him on this.

"Dale you just can't stop can you…?" Andrea started missing the expression until Dale lost it.

"ANDREA GET IN THAT DAMN RV NOW!" He yelled angrily causing Andrea to finally look at him and nodded in surprise. She entered the RV and heard Dale again. "Hold up a second Daryl I need a word with you…" Andrea looked at Dale who had touched Daryl's shoulder. She gave him an odd look but heard the sobs from the couch. She entered the RV fully and saw Lori being held by Kim while they both sobbed.

"Lori…?" She asked worriedly.

"It's Ann…" Kim explained quietly as Lori sobbed louder over her little sister-in-law. Andrea paled then turned to look out the windshield at Daryl and Dale.

"What the hell is it old man…?" Daryl was starting to get annoyed he just wanted to fucking sleep.

"Daryl…son…" Dale started and gripped the younger boy's shoulder. "Something's happened…"

Daryl gave him a confused look. "What..?"

"There's no easy way to do this kid. So it's just going to have to be fast and come out…" Dale took in a shuddering breath. "Ann's dead."

Daryl felt something cold enter his chest when he heard what Dale said. He ripped his shoulder away from Dale's grip.

"What the fuck are ye trying ta pull! Yer not being funny ya fucking old bastard!"

"Daryl…" He heard his name being called and he spun around and saw Lori at the entrance of the RV and she had been sobbing in earnest. He shook his head and felt his crossbow slip off of his shoulder and onto the asphalt of the road.

"NO!" He yelled angrily but Lori just nodded while more tears fell. "Just a couple hours ago that horse bitch said she was fine what the fuck changed?"

"She went out with Shane and the guy that shot Carl for medical supplies. She got ambushed by Walkers Daryl, I am sooo sorry." Lori admitted with another sob.

Dale saw the world ending in Daryl's eyes and the poor kid looked ready to go nuclear. They were all worried that he would react the way when he found out about Merle, that they were prepared for. What Daryl did they were not prepared for.

"First mah brotha! Now Ann?" He snapped out feeling something burning at his eyes. "How the fuck is that fair?" He screamed angrily feeling sick to his stomach.

"It's not son, it's not." Dale nodded sadly Daryl shook his head woefully and backed away tears filling his eyes.

"Leave me the fuck alone! ALL YA'LL JUST ME THE FUCK ALONE!" He screamed venomously as he turned tail and ran as fast as he could into the woods.

Daryl ran for what felt like hours and slumped to the dirt floor of the woods and let out a sorrowful sob. He clutched mud into his hands as he wept for the loss of Ann.

'Why does my chest hurt?' He mentally questioned as the voice that sounded like his mother telling him that the feeling was heartbreak. Daryl sobbed harder not liking how bad is chest was hurting it felt like something stabbing out his soul.

"Now why the hell are you crying…?" A voice snapped and then softened. "Daryl…?"

Daryl Dixon snapped his head up and stared in horror at what he saw.

"Ann…?" He asked the bloody figure who was holding an interesting weapon with a water-gun with a gasoline can taped to it strapped to her back.


	13. Ah'm going ta kill Shane!

Ann's Story of Survival…

Ann Dixon screamed for Shane one last time as she ducked out of the hands of the Walkers.

'Damnit I need to stop screaming!' She thought to herself as she managed to kick another Walker with all her might. 'Huh, rage and desperation really do make people super strong…' She thought to herself filing that thought away for later.

Another horde of Walkers were coming in from the other side of the walkway. She glared actually feeling that if she were a demon right now her eyes would turn red, yeah that was how pissed off she was.

"Hope ya'll ain't expecting a quick meal cause Ah fucking intend to live!" She snapped angrily as she shoved her elbow through the nearest door window and unlocked it.

Ann charged down the hallway with all of those Walkers right behind her. She entered the classroom at the end of the hallway and blocked it off with a heavy oak desk. She finally took stock at the room she cornered herself in.

"Great the Shop Class." She muttered and looked around for anything she could use as a weapon. "Aw fuck the weapons I just a clear path through that hallway!" Ann looked through all of the classroom desks, every single drawer and the cupboards before finding odds and ends of what 'might' be good enough.

**Memory**

Charlie Wilcox won first prize in Science Fair for his work on Propulsion Systems.

**END MEMORY**

Ann bit her lip remembering her last boyfriend. 'Figures he'd be the one that pops up in there…' Ann grumbled and started to look for a fire extinguisher. She found left over sheet metal and used a hot glue gun and a couple other tools to stick sharp pieces of metal and other sharp objects she had found onto the fire extinguisher. She then pulled over a cart that had wheels on it and managed to strap the fire extinguisher down onto it. She then attempted to spark a fire with a lighter she had found in one the student's desks.

Ann grabbed a heavy wrench as the last of the door broke away the oak desk was knocked away by the throng of zombies now at the VERY open doorway. Ann closed her eyes after she hit the nozzle off of the fire extinguisher and lit the small piece of cloth she put around the edge of the extinguisher. She closed her eyes tightly praying that at least she could some of those bastards out before they ate her . She felt the heat from the tricked out missile she had just made but she couldn't stop herself from keeping her eyes clenched shut.

The roaring sound from the extinguisher mixed with the sound of the pieces of metal hitting rotted flesh was almost enough to make her pass out but she stayed awake but with her eyes still closed. Then the cart crashed into the opposite end of the hallway straight into the door crashing it open with glass and debris behind it. Ann still had her eyes closed but her face scrunched up in confusion when she didn't hear anything after that. She peeled open one eye and then both eyes completely opened in horrified shock. Her mouth dropped open in surprise and the only words that came out were…

"How the fuck did Ah fail Shop?"

She moved a desk outside into the hallway and used it to climb up on top of the lockers and crawled on them and got to the other end of the hallway and through the hole the extinguisher had created. She looked back through the hallway and shook her head.

"Ah can't believe that just fucking happened!" She grumbled to herself before moving on.

The hallway was full of body parts and growling Walkers. That extinguisher missile with the pieces of metal attached to it had managed to slice and dice up all the Walkers. None of the Walkers had been killed because their brains were still intact but seriously if they can't move around without legs, arms and waists she wasn't going to complain. At least she had enough foresight to get up on top of the lockers so the intact heads couldn't bite her and infect her.

Ann ran through the high school parking lot and noticed that the Pick up truck was indeed gone.

"Oh yeah, he's gonna die!" Ann grumbled acidly and started running down the road they had taken.

After running for a couple hours she needed to catch her breath. She noticed a small barn with a tool shed beside it. There were five or six Walkers ambling around and she growled angrily.

"Oh Ah'm getting sick an TIRED of this FUCKING BULLSHIT!" She yelled getting more pissed off. Her yell had caused the Walkers to turn towards her and growl. She rolled her eyes and sighed in annoyance.

She discovered whoever had lived in the small barn house had children because she stumbled on a decent sized water gun. She again locked herself in a small confined space but at least she had goodies to work with. She had managed to grab up the water gun and found some duct tape, and half a gasoline can. She sighed tiredly knowing she needed to think about Shane leaving her behind to give her another shot of adrenaline to her body. Her eyes narrowed dangerously and she went to work again.

Ann first grabbed the duct tape and taped the gasoline can to the Water gun's 'fill' spout. She then managed to find a thin hollow tube that was often used for draining out smaller machines. She managed to stick the tube into the water firing mechanism in the water gun and now had a water gun with a thin spout sticking out of the barrel of it. She had at least thought about taking the damn lighter with her when she left the school and now knew why.

She sighed and kicked the door open again and lit the gas that came out of the Water gun catching it on fire hitting all of the walkers hence catching them all on fire. Ann ducked out of the way of the flaming Zombies and walked away as they screeched inhumanely. Ann stopped at a tracker seeing that the Water Gun was now empty of gasoline instead of dropping it where she was standing, she grabbed up one of the machine belts from the tractor and made a shoulder for her new 'friend'. She slung it over her shoulder and kept running through the wooded area.

She bumped into another Walker Parade and glowered in irritation.

"Oh Shane is REALLY going to die!" She growled fiercely. She grabbed up a chainsaw and tried to wield it while using a weed whacker. "Okay so Ah'm not good at double handed combat…" She then managed to while Walkers were starting to surrounded her grab up a large enough metal pipe putting the two handles from the chainsaw in one side and the weed whacker handle through the other side. She then grabbed the welding device and lit it with the lighter once more so it locked them both in place.

Ann now had a double edged blade in a way. One end had a chainsaw while the other end had a weed whacker. She ran through the horde of Walkers grunting and screaming as she swung both ends around and lashed out at anything that got too close. Her tank top was stained with darkened blood and her arms looked sticky with sweat and Walker guts. She wasn't going to stop until every last one of those fucks were in pieces!

Ann panted heavily as she surveyed the carnage she just created. She turned the switches off of both sides and then finally threw up. She spit onto the grass and kept moving. She didn't bother wiping her mouth seeing as she was still covered with gore from her kills.

Ann felt the adrenaline leaving her system again only this time thinking about Shane to refill the

rage-o-meter didn't work and she just kept walking getting more tired as she went. After a long while she had no fucking clue where the hell she was but she kept moving forward. She used the double-edged weapon to keep her vertical because it had been a very long since she had slept, eaten or had anything to drink.

'Yep survive all that shit just to get mahself lost in the damn woods…' Ann thought to herself with a sarcastic eye roll. Ann was about to lose all hope and just lay down and die right there but she heard sobbing in the distance. She slowly followed the sounds and found a broken form sobbing into the ground. 'What the fuck does this idiot think that they have more shit going on than me? If anybody should be wailing like a newborn baby it should be me…Ah fucking earned it….' Ann bitched silently.

"Now why the hell are you crying…?" The sobs stopped and Ann paled in realization who the figure belonged to and her face softened in surprise. "Daryl?" She asked unsure if he was real. His steel blue eyes filled with tears and horror at seeing her standing there.

"Ann…?" He asked gently like he was afraid she'd disappear.

"Last I checked…" She took another step forward and the adrenaline had completely vanished from her body and her legs unwilling to support her anymore buckled and she collapsed. Daryl caught her and started looking her over worriedly.

"Were ya bit?" He asked in panic, Ann smirked sadly.

"Surprisingly no…" She offered quietly. "Daryl Ah'm so tired, I wanna go home…" She sighed sleepily and started to close her eyes. He tried to move the weapons out of her grip but she tightened her hands on them. "No I wanna keep em'." She slurred as she passed out before Daryl could say anything else.

Daryl was in too much shock to say or do anything else but he did grab her into his arms and he ran the whole way back to the highway where Dale was with the RV. He made it in record time and noticed thanking GOD that the station wagon was still there meaning Lori was still there.

"DALE!" He screamed in fear. "Dale I need help now!" He screamed again as the older man came racing out of the RV in worry. The man stopped short at who Daryl was carrying and with a pale expression turned back to the RV yelling.

"LORI IT'S ANN!" He screamed for the woman who just about tripped out of down the steps and ran all the way over to where Dale was already at Daryl's side who was holding the girl in question.

Lori looked on in horrified fascination as Daryl gave them both a tearful grin.

"She's alive!" He cried out happily. "She's fucking alive!" He crowed even more happy.

"How…?" Lori asked as Dale took her pulse and nodded with a smirk of disbelief.

"Ah don't fucking care right now! Not at all!" Daryl admitted looking directly at Ann's face with an ecstatic laugh.

Lori laughed out loud with him and grabbed the younger man in a hug as she kissed his cheek and ruffled Ann's hair.

"You crazy little brat!" She yelled while tears fell down her cheeks as she yelled at the younger girl.

(AN:/ Kudos to who can find the hidden Boondock Saints Homage in this chapter in honor of Norman Reedus who actually said the line in the movie. Happy hunting)


	14. Fluff Alert and what did Shane do?

FLUFF WARNING!

Daryl moved out of the way when Ann woke back up. Her lovely eyes were devoid of emotion again. It was like she had been when she killed Trudy.

"Hey darling." He stated quietly and she only blinked at him silently. "Not talking again huh…?" He asked while moving some hair from her face. "When ya were ta wake up, Andrea and Kim were going ta clean ya up and get you some new clothes to wear. Lori went back to the Ranch house to tell Rick and Shane that yer alive. I expect idiot and dipshit will be here before long…" Ann's face paled and gave Daryl a panicked look and started to shake her head in terror. "You don't have ta see them if'n yer not ready to…"

"Daryl ya were supposed to tell us when she woke up!" Andrea walked into the back of the RV glaring at him and he rolled his eyes and shot Ann a look that said 'see what I put with now?' He saw a corner on Ann's mouth twitch slightly well at least that was something.

Andrea and Kim took Ann outside her stripped her out of her clothes and used the water from the water truck Shane found days earlier. They cleaned all of the blood and gore off of her body and put her in clean clothes that they had found lying around. The two women watched her worried she hadn't spoken since she stumbled onto Daryl in the woods. From what they could tell by the mess her clothes were in, and the interesting weapons she carried that she had a hell of a time making her way back.

The station wagon pulled up again and Rick shot out of the car as fast as he could.

"ANN?" He hollered for her and she flinched but still turned to her brother who was sobbing and ran to her and grabbed her into a hug. "Ya ain't going ta pass out like last time right?" Ann shook her head still not speaking Her brother could care less about her mental state he was just way too happy that she was still alive.

Ann looked past Rick and saw Shane Walsh standing as far away as he could near the car. The look of utter smoldering iciness would've been enough to kill somebody right where they stood. Shane paled when he saw the look she gave him. It wasn't the 'I will set you ablaze right now!' look it was more along the lines of 'I will make a personal call to Satan himself so he can set you ablaze for me'.

Later that night they had agreed to stop by the highway once a day and wait to see if Sophia showed up. They left a message for her on one of the cars to stay there with the supplies they had left. Now they were all back at the ranch house. Hershel Green smiled at Ann and she nodded in gratitude for the place to sleep for the night.

"Yer going to have ta tell me how ya managed ta make these…" Daryl stated simply as he held up the double edge blade inspecting it.

"Helluva a design darling…" Not only was he impressed with how fast she slapped things together but he also wished he could've seen her use it.

"What is this a water gun?" He asked with a sarcastic smirk and she just blinked at him silently.

"What're ya planning on giving them a bath?" He saw her eyebrow raise slightly but that's the only reaction he got. Ann finally sighed and pulled out the lighter that she still had and squirted the gas out of the water barrel and lit the gas showing everybody standing around them that she had built a fucking flamethrower! Rick shared a look of amazement with Dale who then shook his head with a smirk. Glen paled and let out small whimper before he muttered to T-Dog.

"That is soooo hot!" He backed up worriedly when Daryl gave him an evil glare. "Ya know hot as in fire...hot…not hot, hot!" He tried to dig himself out of the hole but just kept falling back into it.

"Glen just stop talking." Lori smirked at the younger man.

Daryl got their tent pitched up and led Ann away from the damn vultures that wouldn't stop with the questions. He sat her down and worriedly looked at her, she hadn't said anything since she told him she wanted to go home.

"The old guy has some food cooking, Ah can go git ya some…" Daryl offered but Ann shook her head petulantly. "When was the last time ya ate?" He asked and she just shrugged indifferently. "Ah still got no problem shoving food down yer throat." Ann stood up and glared at him and she left the tent. Daryl ran a hand through his hair unsure of how to deal with this.

Daryl approached Hershel and asked if the shower had been used at all as a bath because he wanted Ann to try and relax. Hershel nodded and showed Daryl where the washroom was and Daryl went to work on getting a decent bath ready. Ann let out whines and panicked whimpers when Daryl picked her up and lugged her up to the washroom when she refused to go.

Rick glared at Daryl and went to intercept but Lori grabbed his shoulder and whispered into his ear what she believed Dixon was doing and Rick's face set into an angry scowl but left them alone.

Daryl closer the washroom door and Ann just sat on the closed toilet seat. He looked over at her and she gave him a pathetic look.

"Now I don't expect ya ta talk or anything. Jus git in that tub and calm down!" He then left for a towel and came back to see Ann sitting in the tub but she was sitting in one end with her knees to her chest not moving. "That's not calm…" He teased her gently and she gave him a morose look and he sighed and took his shirt off. Ann watched him warily as he took his pants and boxers off and kicked off his hunting boots. He hopped into the tub behind and took her shoulders and started to lean her back against him. "Ah gotcha." He whispered into her ear and didn't stop pulling her back until she rested against his chest. He noticed her shoulders were really tensed up and he used his hand to rub her back soothingly.

'If those idiots out there saw this, Ah'd really neva live it down…and if mah damn brotha even knew what I was like with Ann he'd probably shoot me.'

Daryl kept rubbing her shoulders then moved to her arms making his way down her sides and across her stomach she twitched slightly and he smirked knowing she was ticklish.

"Don't ya eva scare me think that again…" Daryl whispered into her ear making her shiver slightly. "Ah love ya too damn much." He felt her shuddered again but it didn't stop and looked over her shoulder seeing the silent sobs wracking her body and he spun her around in the tub upsetting the water and hugged her to him letting her sob into his neck. She latched her arms around his shoulders and her sobs got louder. "Jus fer the record yer neva leaving mah side again! Yer fucking mine ya hear! Not going ta share ya with anybody certainly not some walking diseased sumbitch that has been dead for a while!"

Daryl sighed in relief when the slight snicker erupted from her throat.

"Ah love ya to." She whispered into his neck and Daryl closed his eyes getting more emotional than he wanted to be.

'Thank you GOD, Ah still don't care if'n yer there or not, but thank you…' Daryl prayed happy that Ann had spoken.

"Ya want me ta grab ya some food now?" He asked and she nodded.

"Yes please."

Later that night Ann and Daryl had retired back to their tent and managed to make love like the first time they had done it. It was soft, gentle and loving because Daryl had started to take this relationship for granted but now since he KNEW that tomorrow either she or he could end up dead he needed to prove to her how much he loved her every time they were alone.

Ann woke up the next morning feeling a helluva lot better than she had in days. She sat up and yawned and noticed Daryl sitting up already just staring at her.

"Hey." She offered quietly and he just stayed silent just staring at her. "What's up?" She asked confusedly.

"Ya know ya talk in yer sleep…?" He asked looking away and Ann frowned worriedly.

"Really?" She asked and he nodded still looking at the tent wall. "What'd I say? Nothing embarrassing I hope…" She offered trying to remain calm knowing what nightmare she had that night.

Daryl gave her a look of pure hatred but she knew it wasn't directed at herself. His eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Ya can tell me what the fuck Shane did ta make ya cry like that…"


	15. I will get you Shane

Ann's face paled as she looked away from Daryl's angry gaze.

"What did he do?" Daryl didn't like how she shrunk away when he scooted closer. "He didn't rape ya did he?" He asked getting more freaked but sat back in relief when Ann gave him an eyebrow raise and disgusted look.

"Okay…ew…" Ann muttered scrunching up her face. "I didn't need THAT image…" Ann sighed sadly. "I jus have abandonment issues. It's like when mah mom and dad died in a car wreck 10 years ago. They left me, and when Shane and Ah thought Rick died it felt like he left me behind as well. So how else am Ah supposed to feel that Shane left me behind!" Ann breathed in slightly and looked over at Daryl. "He obviously didn't want ta see me git eaten so he ran. He jus underestimated mah desire ta live, nothing more nothing less…" Ann explained and Daryl looked a bit more calm now that she explained everything in detail.

"Hey you two up yet?" Glen asked near the entrance of their tent. "Kid's awake and asking fer ya Ann."

Ann gave Daryl a brief smile and quick kiss before getting dressed and making a mad dash for the ranch house.

Carl looked peaked but at least he was alive, and awake.

"Hey kid…" Ann offered grinning happily.

"Hi Ann…"

"Ya gave us all a pretty good scare Carl."

"Sorry…" Carl shifted and whined in pain.

"Aw it weren't yer fault kid. Jus complete and utter Grimes bad luck striking again. Mixed in with the Grimes dumb luck we mostly end up bouncing back jus fine." Carl yawned and started to drift out again. "Git some rest Ah'll be back later."

"Bye Ann…"

"See ya kiddo."

Dale saw her walking around and hurried over to her and grabbed her into a hug.

"It's great ta see ya up and about Ann!" He mentioned with a grin. Ann just nodded politely as she moved through the property.

Glen looked at her and waved and trotted over to her.

"Ya know with that double edged weapon ya made, it kind of makes ya look like Darth Maul!" Ann stopped walking and gave Glen an odd look of confusion and he faltered. "Ya know Star Wars Episode 1? The bad guy that had the double edge light-saber…" Glen saw her give him a 'what the hell are you on' look. "Right I'll stop talking, good to have ya back. Dixon would've been a pain in the ass." Glen offered and walked away leaving Ann still standing there in confusion.

Ann stopped and rested at the large wooden fence where Rick was standing looking out at the scenery.

"So…" Ann started and Rick turned around and faced towards the ranch house leaning against the fence.

"Ya scared the hell outta me Ann." Rick admitted while he crossed his hands over his chest still leaning. "Ya know before Ah headed to the police station with Morgan and his son Duane I stopped at yer place. Ah hoped that ya had made a break for it with Lori and Carl. Ah saw yer calendar and on it, it said that ya worked at the hospital during the time that Morgan had told me everybody who worked in hospitals were executed. Ah could only draw one conclusion; you were one of the bodies in the hospital parking lot…"

"Rick…" Ann tried to get her brother to shut up but he put his hand up cutting her off.

"No! Ah git ta talk right now!" He put his hand and continued. "When I found ya at the camp alive and well Ah promised mahself that Ah would neva feel that worried and hopeless. Yesterday ya made me break mah promise ta mahself."

"Oh what! Ya think Ah ran through the school yard screaming 'fresh meat all you can eat'?' Ann countered with a vicious glare. "Don't fer one second think that Ah was sure Ah'd live!" Ann shook her head if her brother thought he would make her feel bad for getting caught in that situation. "Fact is Ah was pretty sure Ah wouldn't. "

"Ann I didn't mean it like that…"

"Forget it." Ann shook her head and walked away but stopped and turned to look at her brother giving him a smartass smirk. "Oh and Rick…? Get some more sleep! Ya look like shit…" She walked away again.

Rick shook his head at his sister that look she gave him made her look more like Daryl Dixon than he'd ever be comfortable with.

Ann had to put up with Andrea and Kim asking if she was feeling alright and if she needed anything. Then she had T-Dog approach her and give her a one-armed hug. She had checked his wound after hearing Hershel Green had cleaned it up and stitched it. Hell even Lori was happy to see her walking around. There was still one person she DID NOT want to see, and guess who didn't have the bright sight to leave her the hell alone. Yep the one person that never paid attention to the 'do not approach me' vibes.

"How are ya doing Ann?" Came a curious voice from behind her and her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Oh just peachy Shane…" She offered bitterly. "Ah mean Ah was only left fer dead, and forced into a situation where it was kill or be EATEN TO DEATH!" She snapped at him acidly and he flinched.

"Keep it down will ya…" He looked around worriedly. "Listen Ah saw them Walkers almost on ya, and Ah would not eva want ta see ya git ripped apart!"

"Oh! Is THAT what you told them?" Ann asked with mock understanding. "Or the fact that those Walkers, weren't even close ta me until after ya had jumped off the wall…? Or how about the fact that Otis seemed ta not make it either…? Bravo on that by the way…what'd ya do trip him?" Ann asked venomously. Shane looked away from her and her face paled in realization. "Oh that IS RICH!" She bit in spite.

Shane glowered at her and grabbed her throat with one hand angrily.

"You say anything to anybody and Ah will snap yer fucking neck so damn fast ya won't realize yer dead." He informed her but she only gave him a predatory grin.

"You go ahead and break mah fucking neck and Daryl, Rick, Dale, T-Dog and Glen will find my personal letters' depicting what ya did. Including screwing with his wife." Ann gave Shane an acidic laugh and his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Yer bluffing…"

"Am Ah Shane? Am Ah really? Look me in the damn eyes and tell me Ah am bluffing…ya kept the fuck outta mah way or Ah will end you faster than planned."

"Planned?" Shane asked momentarily confused and Ann gave him another wolfish grin making her look like 'Hannibal Lector'.

"Don't think yer getting away with leaving me behind Shane, Ah bumped into another HERD, so Ah'm still a little pissed off about that. Rest assured Ah will git ya for that. Not now, maybe not in a year. And you will neva know when it's coming…" She walked away and bumped into Lori who was helping Maggie Green move some wood for a fire. "Hey girls…" She greeted before giving Shane another venomous glare before turning back to help the other women with the firewood.


	16. Too soon for jokes?

Later that day Daryl held Ann's hand as the Greene family held a small memorial for Otis. The family had piled up a large group of rocks in memory as Hershel Greene spoke about the man that had given his life to save a child. Ann half listened to what Hershel was saying because she was too busy sending an icy glare over to Shane who shuffled on his feet from the glare.

"Blessed be GOD. Father thy lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to him with the gift of our brother Otis. For his fair years and his abundance of caring. We thank you GOD for the peace he enjoys and grace. He died as he lived, in grace…" Hershel looked over at Shane hopefully. "Would you say some words?" He asked quietly but Shane balked.

"I ain't really good at it, I'm sorry."

Patricia Otis' wife pled with Shane to say something, hell she wanted to hear anything. Shane was sure his skin would melt off from the searing glare Ann Dixon was still giving him. Instead he sighed and started to talk.

"When we were about done, we barely had ammo. Hell we were down to pistols by then. My leg was hurt bad, my ankle was swollen up. And he said we gotta save the boy! He gave me his backpack and shoved me ahead. He said I'll take the rear I'll cover you. When I looked back…" Shane couldn't finish what he was saying because everybody knew what he had seen. "If it weren't for Otis I probably wouldn't have made it out alive. That goes for Carl to! He saved us both." Shane added quietly. He then added another rock to the pile and Ann almost walked forward to hurt Shane for even touching the monument. Hershel ended the mini sermon and Ann couldn't stop the anger from nearly boiling over looking at Shane.

Daryl noticed the glare Ann kept shooting Shane Walsh, and he wasn't liking the anger he saw in her eyes. Daryl knew there was something more that happened between the two of them but he was going to try to be patient and let Ann tell him everything on her own terms. He did feel how tense her arm was when he rubbed her shoulder after the makeshift funeral.

Ann entered the house to check on her nephew while Daryl walked over to Deputy Dipshit.

"Hey Dipshit! There a reason why Ann keeps giving ya the evil eye?" Daryl asked point blank and Shane rose an eyebrow and shrugged.

"Not my fault if the little brat's got abandonment issues coming out the wazoo!" Shane snapped while working on getting some more supplies from the RV. Shane saw the twitch in Daryl's eye when he used the word brat.

"How about why she's skittish when yer alone near her?" Daryl questioned again he knew something was going on but with Ann and Shane it was going to stay quiet until something brought it violently out into the light.

"I dunno why don't you ask her!" Shane snapped angrily and stomped off in a huff.

Ann left the house and saw everybody standing around the Station Wagon with a map.

"What's up?" She asked not looking anybody in the eyes in fear that they would see her fear of being anywhere near Shane.

"We got ourselves a map, now we might find Sophia faster." Rick mentioned and frowned when his little sister nodded silently still not looking up. Rick felt something niggling in the back of his head like something was going on between her and Shane but it just chalked it up to nerves and such.

Hershel shook his head when Rick and Shane offered to go look.

"Not with all the blood you gave." Ann offered drolly to her brother.

"And with yer ankle all messed up, ya'd be lucky to make it off the property." Hershel looked over Shane who deflated visibily.

Daryl sighed and hiked his crossbow up on his shoulder.

"I guess it's just me then. I'll be at the creek and make my way around." He stated simply and Ann gave him a panicked look.

Shane felt the smirk cross his face as Ann paled in horror at being left alone without Daryl to protect her from himself.

"What's the matter Ann? Afraid yer not going to see him again?" He asked teasingly but Ann heard the malice in Shane's voice.

Daryl's eyes narrowed dangerously at seeing Ann's face pale in fear and after hearing Shane's barb felt like he should do or say something. What came out was not what anybody had ever expected to hear from Daryl Dixon.

"What the hell are ya talking about? She's coming with me!"

"She is?" Shane and Rick asked at the same time while Ann asked;

"I am?" Daryl smirked slightly and set his face into a scowl again.

"Well considering the last time ah let ya take care of her she almost became Geek Chow!" He offered and Ann's face turned pink and he smirked again. "Too soon for jokes…?" He questioned getting a snicker from her. "Well go git yer little weapons Ah hope ta GOD we find some Walkers cause I want ta see that double edge weapon of yours in action…" Daryl gave her a suggestive grin making her blush again.

Rick sat on the steps of the house and heard somebody leaving the back way. He looked over and saw Daryl walked through the back yard with his crossbow strapped to his back.

"Daryl!" Rick called over worriedly and the younger man stopped.

"I swear we'll be back before dark!" Daryl rolled his eyes and looked back at the house where Ann was adding another gasoline can to her flamethrower.

"You two going to be good on your own? I mean we have plans and manpower now. We can do this good and proper." Rick wasn't going to say anything about the issues between his best friend and sister.

"A lot of the plans fell through." Daryl started off but looked back at the house. "Come on Princess move it!" He hollered back to the house but Rick stopped him again.

"Take care of her Dixon, something bad is going on. Ah just don't know what it is…"

"With her and Deputy Dipshit?" Daryl asked worriedly because it was never good that Sheriff Idiot had the same thoughts.

"Yes, and please stop calling him that, don't give him another reason ta want ta kill ya!"

The door opened up again and Ann came out with her flamethrower attached on her back and carrying her chainsaw/whacker weapon. She stopped at Rick as Daryl was moving across the yard not waiting for her.

"Watch yerself Rick." She told him quietly before shooting Shane who's back was turned to them a worried look. "Just watch yerself…" She told him sternly and Rick nodded getting creeped out that Shane was making her like this.

"What's going on with the two of you…?" Rick whispered but Ann just shook her head and hurried to catch up with Daryl who was nearly off of the property.


	17. Scooby Doo!

Ann hurried behind Daryl and found he had stopped at a tree and was leaning against it.

"About dang time!" He snapped at her with a smirk and she sighed in annoyance.

"Let's just look for Sophia…" Ann walked past him but he grabbed her arm. "Daryl we don't have time for this…" Ann tried again but he wouldn't budge.

"Ann, Ah know something's goin' on with Shane and ya." He admitted quietly. "Ah just wish ya'd tell me what it is…"

"It's fine!" Ann bit out angrily and kept walking after ripping her arm out of his grasp.

"Yeah right…" Daryl sighed but followed closely behind her. "Hell Ah ain't the only one that noticed! That idiot brotha of yers knows somethin's up also!" He snapped acidly he saw Ann stop for a second but kept moving on. "ANN! Don't git too far ahead of me!" He yelled and hurried after her. He grabbed her shoulder again stopping her from moving. "Sooner or later Ah'm going ta find out what the fuck happened. If Ah hear it from somebody else Ah won't know who Ah'll be more mad at him or you!" Daryl snapped at her yet again and he received an icy glare that stopped him in his tracks.

"Ah have it under control!" She offered coolly and walked off again.

Rick kept up the idea that everything was fine. He also noticed things happening with Shane it was getting more and more volatile. Whatever was wrong with Shane, he was starting to drag Ann down with him, and he'd be damned if he let that happen to either of them.

Daryl sighed after he caught up with Ann again.

"Damn fer such a small thing ye sure are fast…" He breathed in deeply catching his breath. Ann only gave him a smirk.

"Ah was under the impression you already knew Ah moved fast when provoked…?" Ann offered back making Daryl look away while redness covered his cheeks.

"Oh yeah…almost forgot when ya got things thrown at ya, ye git a bit crazy…" He looked back at her when she snickered and felt her kiss his cheek.

"Hey our first fight, and we're both still alive…" Ann offered and Daryl shook his head and moved past her.

Ann brought up the rear as Daryl did a preliminary sweep of the forest. She bumped into him when he stopped just outside the brush.

"Is there a reason ya stopped? Or is just such a pretty view ya had to smell the flowers?" Ann asked and Daryl looked back unamused and she pouted. She looked past him and saw the farmhouse he had stumbled across.

"Ah'm going in, Ah want ya to do a perimeter sweep out here before ya join me inside."

"Daryl hon, never a good idea ta split up. Ah mean this kind of shit never worked in Scooby Doo." Daryl snapped back his head and stared at her in confusion.

"Scooby Doo?"

"You don't know the cartoon Scooby Doo?" Ann asked horrified and Daryl shrugged moving forward again.

"He the cartoon dog that talked?" Daryl asked conversationally. "Ah never really watched that unless Ah was stoned…" Daryl admitted with a grin and he missed Ann's shrug.

"Yeah me either…" Ann's face paled and she slapped her hand to her mouth in horror.

Daryl lost his footing and stumbled in surprise. He spun around and gaped at Ann completely speechless while she lowered her hand from her mouth and she pursed her lips. She pointed to Daryl in warning.

"Never tell mah brotha!"

Daryl burst into laughter and started to walk towards the farmhouse shaking his head.

"Ah knew there was a reason why Ah liked ya ta begin with!" He heard Ann groan embarrassedly and started to do her perimeter check while he headed up the front steps of the building.

Daryl looked through the first couple of rooms and noticed nothing unusual. He turned around jumped and let out a startled yelp when he nearly bumped into Ann who was just standing there amusedly.

"What the hell…?" He snapped trying to look like he just hadn't had the shit scared out of him. He wanted to slap that amused smirk off of her face.

"Perimeter's clear!" She offered smugly and snickered when he glowered at her. "Aw did I scare you?"

"Crazy ass bitch…" Daryl shook his head and turned around to continue his search. "Came 'this' fucking close ta gitting a damn arrow in the head!" He snapped more angry with himself that she got the drop on him.

"Ya know…" Ann admitted cheekily getting Daryl to look back at her again. "Yer startled yelp puts my squeaks ta shame…" Ann offered and Daryl's eyes darkened in anger.

"Shut up." He grumbled making Ann snicker again.

Roughly a half an hour later the two of them exited the small house empty handed. Ann bent over to take in a deep breath, those damn musty places were all kinds of hell on her sinuses. She looked over at Daryl who was standing near a bush. She saw him pocketing something as she approached him.

"Hey what're ya doing?" She asked and saw the beautiful white flowers blooming in the sunlight and she smiled. "Hey Cherokee Roses!" She lightly touched some petals and leaned in to smell the fragrance. "Did you know that when…?" Ann started to give Daryl the history of the flower when she saw the eye roll he gave her.

"Yeah I know the damn story! Kid ain't here let's get moving!" Daryl walked away and Ann pouted looking at the flowers before smelling them again and hurrying to catch up.

Daryl and Ann finally made it back to Hershel's ranch and he told Ann to wait for him outside the RV while he did something. Ann noticed from her viewpoint that Kim had cleaned the entire thing top to bottom.

"Thought Ah was in the wrong place…" Daryl offered surprised to Kim who nodded sadly. Ann listened as Daryl told the Cherokee Rose story to Kim and she saw him hand Kim a small glass that had one of the flowers in it to her. Kim watched his every move so did Ann as she smirked sadly as Daryl explained the story further and started to exit the RV.

"Thank you…" Kim offered and Daryl just shrugged awkwardly and bolted.

Ann followed Daryl around the ranch while he grabbed up some food.

"Ann why are ya still following me like a lost puppy?" He asked nervously but frowned when he saw her smile.

"Ah was just waiting for ya ta stop and let me catch up." Ann admitted and lightly kissed his cheek. "That was a really sweet thing ya did for Kim." She stated and moved away when Daryl grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him.

Rick approached Shane but saw his attention on Ann and Daryl.

"Rick Ah'm worried about Ann…" He offered quietly and Rick nodded. "She hasn't been dealing too well with me leaving her behind. I mean I've tried to explain it to her, but she is just mental right now! It's like she doesn't even trust me! I've been trying to talk to her for days but she won't have any of it!" Rick saw the truth in Shane's eyes and nodded finally understanding that the thing between Ann and Shane was just some strained friendship and would eventually straighten itself out.

"Hey that a Cherokee Rose…?" Shane asked and Rick looked back at the two in question and Rick frowned at the flower Daryl held.

"Ann…" Daryl stated simply and reached around into his back pocket and brought his arm back around. Ann gave him an odd look and frowned at the second Cherokee Rose Daryl had picked. "Ann Ah'm pretty sure this one's yers." Daryl told her with a pointed look and Ann paled in realization that Daryl had picked her one of the roses.

"Daryl…?" She asked quietly with tears in her eyes.

"It probably bloomed sometime yesterday. Ya know around the same time that Ah got word from Dale that…you…" Daryl offered choking on his words unable to continue. "Fuck it! It's yers!" He pushed it into her hands embarrassedly.

Rick and Shane watched as Ann entered her and Daryl's camping tent and both raised an eyebrow at how Ann's hand shot out of the opening and tugged Daryl into the tent behind her. The noises that followed that display made them both cringe in disgust. Glen walked past them with a head shake.

"Ah'd tell them ta get a room but that's a close as they got ta one…" He whined and moved on after adding another log to the campfire making Rick snort with laughter. He patted Shane's shoulder with a smirk.  
>"Jus' give her some time buddy. She'll come around eventually…" He saw Shane smirk happily at him but as soon as Rick turned and walked away, Shane's smirk fell from his face and he glowered at the tent in question.<p>

"He can't be by yer side all the time sweet cheeks…" Shane glared again and started to walk away. "Jus a matter of time…" He vowed to himself that he would get her back for the other day.

Shane didn't see how Dale had heard everything he said and was now watching him like a hawk.


	18. Dale warns Ann

The next morning Ann left the tent in a hell of a great mood. She even had a massive grin on her face as she moved around camp. Glen snickered to himself and went back to making goo-goo eyes at Hershel's youngest daughter Maggie.

Ann actually jumped grabbing her sister-in-law into a hug.

"And how is my most favorite sister-in-law?" Ann asked chirpily making Kim snicker slightly as she hung some laundry.

"Gee Ann, that must have been some sex!" Lori offered with a laugh as Ann moved around her and started to help with the laundry.

"Holy GOD you got no idea!" Ann admitted as Kim and Lori burst into giggles.

The three girls worked together with the laundry putting it up to dry. Kim looked at the two of them curiously.

"Lori you feeling okay?" Kim asked a little worried.

Now that Ann looked closer at Lori she noticed a paler color to her cheeks.

"Yeah she got a point Lori…" Ann put the shirt she was folding down and moved closer to her in inspection. "You're looking a bit peaked, ye getting enough protein?"

"Ann it's nothing!" Lori warned her and Ann remembered a time when Lori had been like this. Only one time came to mind and it was when she found out about her nephew.

'Oh FUCK!' Ann thought to herself while her eyes widened. 'It has to be Shane's! Her and Rick haven't been together long enough from him waking up.' Ann thought back further and paled realizing that they had all had to get blood tests done. 'Oh dammit Jenners!' Ann almost growled but stifled it. 'That has to be what he told Rick to make him pale like that!' Ann frowned worriedly and continued her thinking. 'But if Rick knows about the baby…then he would know that Shane…' Ann's eyes widened again. 'Shit I told them to talk it out! Now this will probably explode when we need it not to happen!'

"What do you think Ann?" Lori asked finally and Ann's eyes blinked and turned to her.

"Wha…?" Ann asked stupidly. 'Ah really should stop zoning out like that. I end up looking like an idiot!'

"About us girls cooking up dinner for everybody. You know repaying Hershel and his family for his kindness." Kim offered as an explanation.

"That sounds like a magnificent idea!" Ann smiled at the two of them. Ann noticed Daryl walking around and smirked. "I'll see you two later…" Ann followed after him making the two women snicker at her antics.

Ann stood beside Daryl as Rick started talking to the group. Ann felt a smirk as she felt Daryl's hand inch up her back.

"If you two are done…?" Rick glared at them and Daryl took his hand out from under her shit back. Rick then glared at T-Dog who was snickering slightly. "Don't encourage them!" He warned the black man who snickered again apologetically.

"Yeah I can use a horse get around a lot faster." Daryl offered ready for another day of finding Sophia.

"Hershel showed me where the horses were the other day." Ann offered with a nod and Daryl gave her a hungry look.

"Ah'd love ta see yer ass on a horse…" Rick rolled his eyes as Dale came to stand near them with the guns.

Ann huffed to herself hearing Shane talk about teaching whoever wanted to learn to shoot guns properly. Daryl smirked as she walked away watching her backside and felt a pebble hit him in the head. He glared over at Rick who was simpering in embarrassment.

"Do ye mind not checking out mah sista while I am nearby?" Daryl replied with a shrug and went to follow her to the stables.

Ann waited outside of the stables while Daryl picked his horse. Ann pet the horse she saddled on the nose and it snuffled her hand. She laughed lightly and heard a throat clear behind her.

"Oh hey there Dale!" She offered with a smile but noticed the pensive look he gave her. "What's up?"

"Last night I heard Shane say something odd." Dale admitted quietly and saw the worried frown on her face.

"What did he say Dale?" Ann asked while fear filled her insides.

"He said (he can't be at your side all the time)." Dale saw her face fall and her lips went into a scared pout. "Ann what happened between you two?" Dale asked worriedly but Ann shut her mouth tears filling her eyes. "Ann we can't help you if you don't talk."

"You can't help even if ah talk!" Ann mussed up her hair in fear and gave Dale a look. "Dale please!" Ann begged the older man. "Leave this to me to deal with. And stay away from Shane! Do ye hear me? Stay away! Ye don't know what he's capable of please!" She begged him again and Dale nodded.

"Okay Ann, for you…" Dale sighed tiredly. "I will lay off with the questions, but if 'this' thing doesn't work itself out. My hand will be forced."

"Thanks for your concern, Dale…" And hugged him as he awkwardly returned it.

Daryl came out riding the horse he saddled up and saw Dale walking away.

"What'd the hell he want?" He asked worriedly.

"Oh just to ask me how to handle a snake. Nothing much just the usual survival talk." Ann offered and hiked up onto her horse nice and slowly making Daryl tilt his head watching.

"You sure you know how to ride a horse? Ye did that pretty slow…" He asked worriedly and Ann shot him a wolfish grin.

"Hon you and I both know that you love it when I mount things nice and slow…" Daryl heard her answer and shifted uncomfortably in his saddle. They looked over hearing wood hitting the ground. Ann blushed seeing her brother staring at them with a disgusted expression. Shane who was standing beside him ready for the two of them to scour the woods was staring at them with an open mouth of shock.

"Sorry…" Ann offered with a hysterical laugh.

"Ah swear ta GOD if ya two don't stop doing shit like this…" Rick sighed in despair. "I will shoot one of you."

"I dunno Rick, maybe we need a 'hands off' policy…" Shane finally snapped out of it and smirked vapidly at Ann who gave him an unamused expression.

"Oh that's a good one Mr. 'I ate all my fries, I think I'll eat yours now!'." Ann snapped back getting confused looks from all three men. "Hand off policy never applied to Shane when he was hungry snatching up mah damn French fries. Now he thinks he can control my crap…" Ann shook her head and forced the horse she was riding towards the woods.


	19. Rocky the Squirrel, and crossbow lessons

After an hour of riding the horses Daryl stopped his and got off.

"We need ta eat something, getting ta be around lunchtime…" He admitted as Ann dismounted her horse and tied it beside his.

"Save some room fer dinner tonight. The girls are cooking for Hershel and everybody…" Ann informed him and he looked over confusedly.

"What and you'd rather spend the day trekking through the Georgian Woodlands instead of cooking with them?"

"Oh hell yeah! I may be a nurse and able to slap things together impressively. But when it comes to food…" Ann shook her head woefully. "Let's just say last Thanksgiving I went with the Ramen noodle turkey flavored meal."

"Well let's see if we can't catch a squirrel. A nice light snack." Daryl decided and saw a squirrel running around the woodland floor. Ann tapped his shoulder and he looked at her.

"Can I try?" She asked and his mouth turned into a frown and he looked at his crossbow with a pout. "FINE!" She snapped and started back to her horse but was stopped when Daryl took her shoulder and spun her around before handing her the crossbow.

"You even know how to use…" Daryl started to ask as Ann gave him a glare and accidently shot the crossbow.

Daryl's eyes widened in surprise and looked back at her, then back at where the arrow landed.

"Hot DAMN!" He hollered in shock and walked over to the tree it landed in.

"What…" Ann started to turn and saw a Walker pinned to the tree with the arrow in its head. "Holy shit!"

Daryl pulled the arrow out of the Walker's head and cleaned it off before putting it in the horse's side bag.

"Not gonna hunt with that one!"

"Sorry…"

"Don't be ya got a walker…" Daryl looked back at her with a sigh.

He approached Ann and took the crossbow out of her hands.

"Might as well teach ya how to handle this thing." Daryl went behind her and moved his arms around her. He put the crossbow back into her hands and positioned her arms and hands in comfortable positions on the grips. "The second ya disrespect her, she'll turn on ya…." Daryl growled into her ear making her whimper. "Ya pull the bow part back and insert another arrow." He moved his hands onto Ann's and helped her reset the firing mechanism. "Ya should get into a betta stance. It gives ya more control over where the arrow goes." Daryl nudged the back of her knee with his leg and forced her into a better stance. "Now when yer ready take a quick breath in and pulled the trigger when ya release yer breath."

Ann's breath left her body as she released the firing mechanism and the arrow shot through the air and hit another tree. Ann bit her lip feeling as turned on by this as Daryl seemed to be. Yeah she could tell he was turned on. It didn't take a smart person to figure out he was hot under the collar right now.

"We should grab a squirrel and look for the kid…" Daryl offered huskily and Ann nodded in agreement. "We'll continue this lesson later tonight…" He growled in her ear making her whimper.

Daryl used his crossbow and got a squirrel that was seemed to be jumping down from the tree.

"Huh. Got that one in mid air." He smirked to himself.  
>"Geez are you sure you didn't just kill Rocky the Flying Squirrel?" Ann asked from behind him and rolled his eyes.<p>

"What is with you and cartoons?"

"I don't know but Ah can tell ya since you nailed that thing in the air like that. It's going to be hard to wait until night time for that 'lesson'."

They got back on their horses and started off again.

"Hey Ah want ya ta circle around and see if ya can spot anything. Meet back in a few minutes." Daryl told her and she nodded and urged her horse around the area.

As Ann looked through her path on her horse Daryl noticed something down in the water and made his way to the creek. When he got there he noticed it was Sophia's doll. The one that Morales' daughter gave her before they parted ways. He stuck the doll into the back of his belt and made his way back up to his horse.

Ann heard Daryl's call and started to turn around her horse and headed back to where they separated.

Daryl moved his horse through the path a little keeping a steady eye for movement. He cringed as some birds flew past him and the horse. The horse became spooked and danced back a bit before Daryl got her calmed down again. He forced the horse forward again not seeing the snake suddenly darted across the path causing the horse to panic and buck up in terror. Try as he might Daryl couldn't control the horse this time and she bucked him off. He heard the horse speed off neighing in fear as he fell head over ass down the hill. He hit the water and started cursing in pain. He felt the blood on his forehead but that's not what caused the pain he was feeling. The pain was probably due to the arrow that was imbedded into his side right now!

"Fuck!" He hissed out in agony when he moved.

Ann heard him hit the water and tried to stop her horse. Her horse saw the same damn snake and started to freak out just as much. Ann felt her control on the horse slip but she managed to call out worriedly for Daryl before her horse fucking bucked her off.

"Daryl?" She hollered but that was one second where she lost focus on her damn horse and got slammed shoulder first into the closest tree. She let out an agonized scream as she felt her shoulder dislocate harshly and she crash down the hill landing a ways from Daryl half in the water and half on the bank.

Daryl spit some of the water out of his mouth and frowned hearing Ann call his name. Then he heard her horse neigh in fear and he felt his own panic when he heard her scream in pain. He heard a thud and a small splash and managed to move into a position to look where the noise happened. He paled in horror seeing Ann laying at most ten feet away unconscious.

"ANN!"


	20. Looney Tunes and concussed boyfriends

Daryl could barely move without his side blazing up into pain. He sighed when he heard a groan come from Ann's mouth.

"You alive over there Darlin'?" He asked worriedly and she gave a snort of derision.

"No…" She grunted as she tried to sit up. She looked over at him and saw how pale he was. "Ah dislocated mah damn shoulder." She hissed when she moved her lame arm. "Give me a second and Ah'll take care of that…" Ann grabbed her arm and held it as she went over to the rocks imbedded in the hill. She stuck her hand into a small crevice and braced herself.

Daryl actually heard the sickening crack of bone snapping into place and Ann fell to her knees with a scream of pain.

"MOTHERFUCKINSUMBITCHIN'STUPID ASS MOTHER LOVIN'!" Ann let out a litany of curse words and panted through the rest of the pain. She lowered her forehead to the rock and swallowed back the bile that wanted to come up her throat.

"Ann?" Daryl hollered over worriedly when she didn't move he saw her wave her other arm at him in dismissal.

"Yeah I'm good, gimme a second!" She grunted moving her injuring arm around a bit before slipping it back into the joint correctly. "Fuck that hurt like shit! That's gonna be sore as hell later." Ann grumbled and moved over to where Daryl was lying in his own pain. "Now what the hell did ya do to yerself?" She asked before stopping at his side. "Damn babe, that just sucks…" Ann admitted with a frown seeing the arrow in his side.

"That was some impressive cussing ye jus' did…" Daryl informed her and she rolled her eyes.

"Let me see the actual wound." Ann helped Daryl to sit up carefully and cringed. "Ah don't got anything that can git it out. Or anything ta clean it with. The way it entered so far it's keeping the blood inside. Better just leave it in there until we can git some medical attention." Ann helped Daryl to stand up and put his arm over her shoulder and managed to get out of the water.

Daryl groaned in pain but managed to hide most of it from Ann. He stumbled slightly and she slightly held him up.

"Okay we need to make sure that thing don't move as much. Else, every time ya move it around you'll wish it had never existed. Thing is we don't got anything fer a pressure bandage…unless…" Ann looked at Daryl's shirt in contemplation. "Cut them sleeves off…tie them together and make it so they wrap around securing it further."

"Ta hell with that shit darling, Ah know ye just want ta see mah muscles again…"

"Aw here and Ah thought ya wanted mah help…and seeing ya in another sleeveless shirt well that's just an added bonus…" Ann offered drolly as Daryl cut off the sleeves and tied them together and then secured it to the arrow in his side thus keeping it from moving around too much.

"So now what?" Daryl asked as he swung his arm around Ann's neck again standing up with her help once more.

"Why'd ya yell fer Sophia?"

"Found her doll." Daryl admitted trying to keep a steady pace with Ann and trying to be careful of her shoulder.

"The one Morales' kid gave her?" When Ann saw him nod in response she smirked. "That's a good sign right…?"

"Ah hope so…" Daryl sighed hiding his pain as well as he could. "So what now?" He asked again hearing Ann sigh. She motioned with her arm to the hill they fell down and he grumbled more to himself: 'I had ta ask'.

"At least there's the two of us. Between us both we can git up there." Ann offered lightly kissing Daryl's cheek.

Ann's POV

The climb up the hill proved to be harder than Ann had thought. It took a very long time for them to get halfway up the damn thing. When they finally saw the top crest of the hill was when the shit hit the fan. Daryl's footing crumbled out from under him and slid out of Ann's grip and went crashing back down the hill back onto the embankment once more. Thanks to that piece of land that fell away Ann's footing also slipped and she knocked her hip onto a large rock and bit back the scream before she slid down the rest of the way into the water.

Ann sat up faster because she hadn't lost consciousness this time. She did notice the massive welt appearing on her outer thigh and hip. She grimaced at how fast the bruise appeared and hoped to GOD it wasn't bleeding internally. She looked over and paled at how Daryl looked. She moved through the water splashing on her way trying to get to him.

"Daryl?" She asked panicked. She checked his pulse, it was sluggish but still there. "Babe come on! Wake up!" She pled and opened one of his eyes to look at his pupils. Upon seeing the large black spot in his iris she sighed. "And of course yer concussed!" She lightly slapped his cheek and he moaned and blinked up at her owlishly. "Daryl can you walk?" She tried to talk to him but through his eyes she saw that second tumble down the hill scrambled his mind a bit. She looked around and down the creek she thought to herself. "Daryl I hate ta do this, but I'm going to try and see if there's a spot that is less hard ta climb up for us. Ah'll be back as soon as Ah can…" Ann crushed up a leaf and used the water from the creek to make it into a light colored paste. "Ah'm going to put this in the wound on yer scalp. It's gonna hurt like hell and give ya a stinging sensation wheneva ya move. This way it keeps ya from falling asleep. Ya got a concussion can't have ya sleeping." Ann put the paste stuff on the wound and Daryl hissed in pain and blearily opened his eyes to glare at her. "Glare all ya want, at least yer awake…"

Ann gave him a sad look and hurried down the creek looking for a more level way up the hill. She moved quickly and noticed she had gone further down then she had intended. The small alcove was no longer visible, she sighed in despair and decided to head back to Daryl. She noticed movement to her right and saw two walkers growling from the trees and she rolled her eyes.

"And we're back to this again…" She snapped angrily and saw another two walkers coming from her left. Her mouth fell open in silent surprise and quickly shut it again. She reached behind her back for her toy gun flamethrower and paled. She patted the empty space on her back again and her eyes widened. The small voice in her head taunted her slightly. 'Ya left yer weapons on the horse…ya know the one that threw you and ran off…?'

"Oh shit…" She mustered before she ducked through the four walkers before they leapt into action.

Ann climbed up the other side of the embankment and hid behind one of the trees. One walker was faster than the other three so she pulled back a branch and timed it just right. When the walker lunged its body around the corner of the tree he got smacked in the face with the branch and it fell back down the hill. Ann couldn't help the giggle escaping her body because that was way too 'loony tunes' for her not to laugh. She looked back down and grimaced when she saw that the walker's head went liquid because it had landed on a sharp rock.

"3 to go…" She grumbled to herself and proceeded to lure the other 3 walkers into the open where she used a sharp stick to impale one through the head. The walker fell backwards but landed awkwardly again the rocks where the stick that went through had wedged itself into the smaller rocks. The walker was now just stuck half sitting and half standing. Ann grabbed a rock and lobbed it full speed at the second walker who took it to the head and tumbled and landed through the brambles. Going that fast through brambles had the walker's body continuing to the land below while its head was still caught up in the brambles. Ann heard it growling and snapping its jaw just stuck in the shrubbery but decided to leave it there. Ann frowned and looked around in fear. "Okay where'd the last one go?" She wondered out loud getting freaked out. She knew there had been 4 walkers but where the hell did that last one get to? Thankfully being downwind she both heard and smelled something directly behind her. Her eyes widened and she dove to her left as the last walker made a lunge for her body. She heard the sound of something entering flesh and looked behind her and she tilted her head in a perplexed fashion.

"Wow wish Ah had a camera for that one!" The gruesome scene showed that the two walkers were now impaled on the same stick but still caught standing thanks to the other end being stuck within the rocks. "Ah gotta git back to Daryl!" Ann realized with a start and noticed that she was on top of the hill pretty quickly. "Guess this spot is pretty even." She rose her eyebrows then wondering why she was now talking to the walker head still in the brambles hissing at her. "Oh yeah, Ah'm losing mah shit…"

Ann shook her head and moved back down the river from the top of it. A sound from the hill side made her jump before her face showed confusion.

"Daryl?" She asked worriedly as her husband was white faced and managed to climb up the hill by himself. "Dang idiot Ah told ya Ah was coming back!" She scolded him but she could tell he was still concussed. She reached her hand down and he grabbed her hand and hauled himself up. Instead of hugging her, or kissing her he passed her up and looked around for somebody. "Uhm Daryl?"

"Yeah you betta run!" He hollered acidly and Ann 's eyes widened in worry.

"Hon, who're ya talking to?" She asked quietly and he looked back at her.

"Merle!" He answered plainly and Ann pursed her lips together and just nodded in acceptance.

"Okay then…now where is the arrow?" She asked seeing that the arrow was no longer in his side. All he did was point down the hill. Ann looked and paled seeing two dead walkers one with the arrow in its head. "Oh that makes sense…" She offered quietly and looked back at Daryl again. "And uhm, whose blood is on yer face?" She asked worriedly.

"Ah got hungry and ate the squirrel…" He saw the look of disgust on her face. "What? You think it's disgusting Ah ate it raw?"

"No, here Ah am risking life and limb to git back ta you and ya don't even save me any!" Ann pouted sadly then. "Ah'm hungry too." Daryl scoffed, shook his head and walked past her. He stopped and sent her an animalistic grin.

"Ah can give ya something betta to eat…" Ann raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged. "Of course Ah need ta heal up first. Woke up to a damn walker gnawing on my boot like a damn dog!" Ann put Daryl's arm around her shoulders again as she helped move down the trail again. She snickered lightly and he glared at her.

"Hey at least he didn't gnaw on mah favorite parts…" Ann offered and Daryl blushed before he kissed her cheek getting some of the squirrel blood on her face.

They moved farther down path and Ann finally noticed something else.

"Uhm, Daryl is that an Ear Necklace?" She asked awkwardly and he gave her a grimace.

"Yeah so?" He dared her to say something about it.

"Ah've seen weirder shit…" Ann admitted and Daryl looked at her oddly.

"Yeah? Like what?" He asked before Ann pointed to the brambles that still had the walker head hissing in it. Daryl looked at it and back to Ann. "You do that?" He asked and she nodded before pointing some more.

"And that." She showed him the two walkers that were still stuck in a grotesque fashion. "Oh and that…" Ann pointed again to the walkers bodies down the hill and Daryl smirked wolfishly at her like he was proud.

"Oh yeah, yer a Dixon all right." He snorted in laughter then groaned in pain. Together they helped support each other back to the damn ranch house.

Next up Daryl's POV


	21. Holy Big Ass Wakeup Call Batman!

Daryl's POV

After Daryl fell down the hill the second time he managed to hit his head once more. He heard Ann give a small yelp of pain and then another splash. He just couldn't get his eyes open.

"Daryl?" He heard her worried voice calling to him. He then felt her press her fingers against his neck for a pulse.

'No shit Ah'm alive!' He thought to himself still unable to get his body to respond to his brain.

"Babe come on! Wake up!" Daryl felt her open one of his eyes but he still couldn't wake up.

'huh maybe Ah'm dead…' Daryl thought to himself in despair. 'Did she just call me Babe? If Ah wasn't practically dead right now I'd probably…'

"And of course you're concussed…" Ann sounded slightly worried and annoyed.

'Well after that knock to the head not surprised…why am I still talking to myself? Not like she can hear me…'

Daryl felt a light slap to his cheeks and finally was shocked out of his slump with a groan. He managed to open his eyes blearily and look up at Ann. She appeared to be relieved when he opened his eyes but she was still worried about him.

"Daryl can you walk?" Ann asked him but all he could focus on was why there were two Ann's in front of him. He did notice that Ann rubbed her face while looking around the creek in worry. "Daryl I hate ta do this, but I'm going to try and see if there's a spot that is less hard ta climb up for us. Ah'll be back as soon as Ah can…"

'NO! Please don't leave me here alone!' Daryl's mind cried out in terror but he still couldn't get his mouth to work properly.

"Ah'm going to put this in the wound on yer scalp. It's gonna hurt like hell and give ya a stinging sensation wheneva ya move. This way it keeps ya from falling asleep. Ya got a concussion can't have ya sleeping."

Daryl hissed in pain when he felt something touch the wound on his head. He couldn't help glaring up at her from the pain and she sighed.

"Glare all ya want, at least yer awake…" Ann then gave him a sad look and started off down the creek missing the panicked expression on his face.

'No Ann! Please come back!' Daryl bit his lip trying to call out but the words still wouldn't come until she was out of sight. "Come back…" He whispered hoarsely unfortunately she was too far away to hear it and he sighed in despair.

Daryl blinked his eyes open and saw his brother come into his line of sight. Merle looked down at him without any compassion, and even made it look like he thought he was an idiot.

'Why don't ya pull that arrow out dummy? Then ya can tend yer wound betta!' Merle snapped at him and Daryl grunted and moved slightly.

"Ann said ta keep it in. Stopping blood from flowing." Daryl grumbled in pain and Merle stood up with a sneer.

'Uh huh little brother's choosing ta listen ta his little bitch instead o his brotha!'

"She ain't a bitch…she's mah wife now…" Merle snorted in laughter.

'So what's going on with you? You taking a siesta?'

"I've seen betta days bro…" Daryl muttered out loud and Merle snickered again.

'You want me ta get ya pillow? Maybe rub yer feet fer ya?'

"Screw you…" Daryl groaned in pain again.

'Yer the one that's screwed from the looks of it…' Merle shook his head in mock concern. 'All those years trying ta make a man outta you. Look at ya lyin' in the dirt like a mutt. Yer going ta die out here little brother, and for what?' Merle teased the fallen man and Daryl nearly growled in anger.

"Ann's coming back fer me…" Daryl sighed in pain again. "Searching fer a little girl…"

'oh you got a thing fer little girls now?'

"Shut up…" Daryl glared at his brother in anger.

'That little bitch ain't coming back fer ya. Hell she's probably geek chow by now!'

"Ann's dealt with worst…" Daryl argued trying not to sound worried about what his brother said.

'Yeah yer right, she's probably back at the ranch house right now with that chink. Laughing behind yer back…' Merle glared down at him. 'So yer looking fer a girl and git injured like this and couldn't even ta bother looking fer yer own brother…'

"Ah looked fer ya…" Daryl argued back.

'Ya lit out first chance ya got…' Merle glared again at his little brother.

"So did you…all you had to do was wait…" Daryl snapped angrily back thinking about how he almost lost Ann because he was roaming the streets of Atlanta for this idiot above him.

'Yer a joke ta them. Nothing but redneck trash. Hell only reason that girl of yers is with ya is because lack of option…'

"Fuck you…Ah love her…" Daryl bit out acidly and Merle blinked almost in surprise.

'Love…? You think what you share with that girl is love?' Merle smirked vapidly at Daryl. 'What the hell do ya know about love little brother?' Merle asked with another snicker.

"More than you, asshole…"

'Hey…they ain't yer kin. I'm the only one that gives two shits about you…'

Daryl groaned in pain and blinked his eyes open some more realizing something. He married Ann, Rick was now his brother-in-law, Lori was his sister-in-law, and Carl was his nephew and seeing this information he glowered up at his brother and his eyes sparked up a bit.

"Yes they are…" Daryl growled and blinked in confusion as Merle stood up with a smirk and a nod of his head.

'Bout damn time kid, now let's get yer ass moving.'

Daryl felt something tugged at his leg and opened his eyes and saw a Walker gnawing on his hunting boot. Holy big ass wakeup call Batman! Daryl's instincts kicked into overdrive and he kicked the walker away in fear and adrenaline filled his body. He reached around and grabbed a sharp rock and slammed it into the walkers head until it was dead. Across the water Daryl saw another walker coming for him and he was out of weapons. He looked to his side and saw the arrow.

'Well that's going ta hurt like hell!' Daryl thought to himself as he quickly pulled the arrow through the wound and managed to arm the crossbow and he shot the walker dead. Daryl saw the walker fall less than five feet away from him and he felt the cold burn in his lungs and started to breath trying to calm down. Finally after catching his breath Daryl sat up more awake and alert than he had been in a while. He too off the outer shirt he was wearing and bunched it into a wad of cloth and put it against his wound. He then tied something around it securing it into place. He scoffed in disbelief and shook his head.

"The sumbitch was right…" Though Daryl wondered why Merle had looked down at him that last second with what appeared to be pride.

Daryl felt and heard his stomach growl needing attention and he grabbed up the squirrel he had caught earlier. He used his hunting knife to cut the thing open and he delved his fingers into the flesh and pulled out some and ate it like that. After eating Daryl grabbed the doll up again and secured it once more. He even decided to take some trophies from his recent kills and made a necklace with the walkers ears.

Daryl glared at the hill again and sighed determined to beat this bitch of a dirt clomp. He started to climb again and managed to get back up to where he and Ann had fallen the second time.

'Please don't feed the birds…'

Daryl looked back up and scowled seeing Merle up at the top of the hill again.

'Aw what's a matter Darlene?' Merle teased his brother again starting to get on his nerves. 'That all you got in you?' Merle snickered nastily. 'What the hell that little sweet thing sees in you is beyond me little brother…' Merle stood up straighter and shook his head. 'Hell you and I both know Ah could've made her squeal more times than either of us could count!'

Daryl felt his blood boiling at the thought of his brother even remotely touching Ann.

"Ya stay the fuck away from her…"

'Hmm…' Merle grinned sinisterly worrying Daryl. 'Ah wonder if she likes the concept of blood play?' Merle let out a laugh as Daryl's face paled in fear.

"YER NOT GOING TO FUCKING TOUCH HER!"

'Yeah and what're ya going to do ta stop me? Yer down there and Ah'm up here…'

Daryl's eyes started to bleach white in fury and he felt anger course through his veins. He propelled himself up the rest of the hill with unnatural speed.

"You'd betta hope Ah don't git up there!" Daryl bit out angrily and saw merle smirk at him.

'Hold on little brother. Let me give ya hand…' And Daryl reached up snatching the hand in front of him.

"Daryl?" Ann's worried voice moved through his brain. "Dang idiot Ah told ya Ah was coming back!" She scolded him but he couldn't be bothered with it right now. Instead of hugging her, or kissing her he passed her up and looked around for somebody. "Uhm Daryl?" He heard her ask worriedly but he still looked for Merle.

"Yeah you betta run!" He hollered acidly and Ann 's eyes widened in worry.

"Hon, who're ya talking to?" She asked quietly and he looked back at her.

"Merle!" He answered plainly and Ann pursed her lips together and just nodded in acceptance.

"Okay then…now where is the arrow?" She asked seeing that the arrow was no longer in his side. All he did was point down the hill. Ann looked and paled seeing two dead walkers one with the arrow in its head. "Oh that makes sense…" She offered quietly and looked back at Daryl again. "And uhm, whose blood is on yer face?" She asked worriedly.

"Ah got hungry and ate the squirrel…" He saw the look of disgust on her face. "What? You think it's disgusting Ah ate it raw?"

"No, here Ah am risking life and limb to git back ta you and ya don't even save me any!" Ann pouted sadly then. "Ah'm hungry too." Daryl scoffed, shook his head and walked past her. He stopped and sent her an animalistic grin.

"Ah can give ya something betta to eat…" Ann raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged. "Of course Ah need ta heal up first. Woke up to a damn walker gnawing on my boot like a damn dog!" Ann put Daryl's arm around her shoulders again as she helped move down the trail again. She snickered lightly and he glared at her.

"Hey at least he didn't gnaw on mah favorite parts…" Ann offered and Daryl blushed before he kissed her cheek getting some of the squirrel blood on her face.

They moved farther down path and Ann finally noticed something else.

"Uhm, Daryl is that an Ear Necklace?" She asked awkwardly and he gave her a grimace.

"Yeah so?" He really didn't want to say anything that would make her think he was more of a freak than the believed.

"Ah've seen weirder shit…" Ann admitted and Daryl looked at her oddly.

"Yeah? Like what?" He asked before Ann pointed to the brambles that still had the walker head hissing in it. Daryl looked at it and back to Ann. "You do that?" He asked and she nodded before pointing some more. He had to admit that was pretty fucking hilarious that the walkers head got caught in the brush and was snarling and hissing at them.

"And that." She showed him the two walkers that were still stuck in a grotesque fashion. "Oh and that…" Ann pointed again to the walkers bodies down the hill and Daryl smirked wolfishly at her.

'Damn not only is that hot, but Merle's dead wrong she's perfect fer me.'

"Oh yeah, yer a Dixon all right." He snorted in laughter then groaned in pain. Together they helped support each other back to the damn ranch house.

Regular POV

When they finally saw the damn ranch house through the final part of the woods Ann looked over and saw something that made her growl in annoyance.

"What's up?" Daryl asked and she pointed to the horse that she had been riding.

"That damn thing still has mah weapons! Hold on Ah'll be right back!" Ann moved closer to the animal and grabbed her weapons off of the animal who looked apologetic that it had left her and bucked her off. "Don't do it again…" She warned the horse who nodded almost understanding her words. She smirked and pet the animal on its nose again. Both she and the horse jumped at a random sound that exploded from nowhere. "That sound like a gunshot to you?" She asked the horse who nodded again. "Okay yer a weird horse…" Ann turned around and saw Daryl wasn't where she had left him and dread filled her body. "Daryl?" She hollered worriedly and ran through the brush with the horse behind her.

Ann skidded to a halt after yelling for Daryl and saw Rick pale faced staring back at her in horror. Shane, and T-Dog were equally white with fright at seeing her. Ann looked down at Rick's feet and saw Daryl lying with a gunshot wound to the side of his head. That was the last thing she saw before the color red entered her vision. The demonic look she shot her brother made him back up in fear.

"Who took the shot?" She snarled venomously making Shane's eyes widen in terror as they heard thudding feet coming from the direction of the ranch house. Ann was pulled away from her anger seeing Hershel Green approaching and noticed Dale and Andrea running towards them also. Ann's eyes narrowed dangerously the only one that could have taken such a shot was whoever was holding something with a decent scope system. And she was looking at the only one holding that kind of weapon. Ann's eyes blazed with fury as she went running towards Andrea with murderous intent. Rick paled in fear.

"Shane, T-Dog stop her!" He yelled urgently. Both T-Dog and Shane stood shoulder to shoulder ready to stop Ann from getting to Andrea who had skidded to a stop from her run.

Ann was way too fucking pissed off to let those two stop her from getting to her target. And with a blast of angered adrenaline Ann barreled through Shane and T-Dog knocking them over and proceeded to tackle Andrea from the waist up with a roar of a guaranteed and bloody ass kicking. Ann landed blow after blow with her fist into Andrea's body and then she gripped the girl around her throat.

"HERSHEL SEDATE HER! SHE AIN'T STOPPING TIL ANDREA'S DEAD!" Shane yelled at the older man who took out a syringe and stuck it into Ann's neck. Ann started to tip back so Rick took her shoulders. He lifted her up after T-Dog managed to pry her fingers from Andrea's throat. Andrea sat up with the help of Dale and she rubbed her sore throat and coughed.

Daryl woke up with a grimace but at least he felt better than he had. He looked over and saw Ann's body beside him on the bed he was on. He sat up and grimaced in pain when his stitches pulled slightly.

"Ann…?" He questioned carefully.

"She's going to be out for a while…"

Daryl looked over worriedly at Rick who was sitting in the chair near the window.

"What the hell happened to her?" Daryl asked angrily and Rick smirked at the younger man.

"She just about killed Andrea for you kid."

"What?" Daryl asked confused and Rick shook his head.

"Ann saw you on the ground with the gunshot wound. She figured out who took the shot and she did an impressive rendition of the last play done by the linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons." Rick stood up and mussed up his little sisters hair. "We had to sedate her because she wasn't letting Andrea go without taking her down with her." Rick let out a small huff of laughter when Daryl looked over at Ann silently and lightly touched her cheek in love. "Okay listen kid, watch the public displays of affection around me and Ah'll leave ya alone…what'd you say?"

"I say yer not as much as an idiot as Ah thought…" Daryl admitted with a groan of pain. Rick nodded in agreement.

"And I say she could've done a helluva lot worse than you…"

"Like it or not Sheriff Idiot, it's her fault we're brothers now…" Daryl smirked vapidly at Rick who rolled his eyes with a smirk and exited the room.

After Kim took the two of them some of the food they had made for the dinner and kissed Daryl on his forehead in a motherly fashion she exited hearing Ann groan indicating she was waking up.

"Ugh what the hell hit me?" Ann grumbled blinking her eyes open.

"That would be the sedative they gave ya ta stop ye from killing the blond bitch…"

Ann's eyes widened and looked over in surprise. Tears filled her eyes when she saw Daryl alive and awake.

"Daryl…?" She asked quietly and he brushed her hair and she kissed him heatedly. "Ah thought Ah lost you…" She felt tears falling down her cheeks. "Ah thought she killed you…" Ann let out a small sob. "Ah didn't want to live anymore…" She kissed him again Daryl sighed into the kiss in realization.

"Ya ain't getting rid of me that easily darlin'. Though it might be a while before we can have that damn crossbow 'lesson'." Daryl started to feel bad because Ann had been scared thinking he was gone. She even tried to take out the blond psycho bitch for him.


	22. Of Guard Dogs and Sister in Laws

The next day Rick and Ann helped Daryl get situated back inside their own tent. Ann explained to Daryl that they've leeched off of the family long enough. Daryl didn't want to move out of the bed it had been a long time since he got to lay on a mattress of any kind and wasn't giving it up without a fight. Rick watched the two of them trying to outsmart the other because Dixon wasn't moving on his own free will. Ann leaned over and kissed Daryl heatedly and pulled out of his reach when he wanted to deepen the kiss. He scooted closer to the edge of the bed and made another grab for her but ducked out of his reach again.

"Nope…ya want another kiss ya gotta git outta the bed…" Ann kissed his cheek lightly and ducked away from his hands again. "So ask yourself Daryl, how much do you want a kiss?" Ann asked with a grin while he growled from the bed.

"Grimes git me outta this damn bed Ah'm going ta kill her!" Daryl snapped looking up at Rick who snickered in response.

Rick helped Daryl sit up on the bed and pulled him up and Daryl looked over at Ann with an evil smirk. Ann bit her lip nervously and gave a worried look to her brother.

"Uhm, I love you…?" She offered warily to Daryl who smirked again this time wolfishly.

"Not going ta save you…"

"Rick…?" Ann looked at her brother who smirked back at her.

"In the words of Daryl at the CDC: Yer on yer own!"

"Oh thanks!" Ann offered sarcastically and ducked out of the room quickly.

Daryl looked over at Rick with quiet realization.

"Ah just got played didn't Ah?"

"Yep oldest trick in the book kid. The promise of sex to get what they want…" Rick answered with a shrug. "Come on let's get you back to your tent."

Ann slid to a stop outside the ranch house door and nearly fell on the porch. Luckily somebody had caught her before she fell completely. Ann snickered at her idiocy and went to thank who had caught but paled when she came face to face with Shane.

"Careful Ann…" He helped her stand up straighter and patted her head and moved on to continue whatever he was doing.

Ann went back to her and Daryl's tent after using the facilities. She ducked into the tent flap and saw Daryl lying there looking up at her with an unamused expression.

"Hey there you look comfy…" Ann offered feeling her cheeks redden a bit.

"Ah'm bored…" He admitted and proceeded to poke holes into the tent screen with one of his arrows.

"Yer bored so you destroy our house…?" Ann asked with a teasing smile before she snatched the arrow away from him. She sat behind him and started to play with the hair above his right ear making him sigh in content.

They both heard a throat being cleared at the flap and they looked over and saw Andrea standing there looking really awkward. Ann bit her lip managing to stifle down the hysterical snicker at Andrea's unease around her.

"Ah know it isn't that great but it's all I could find…" Andrea handed a book over to Daryl who looked through it slightly and tossed it away.

"No pictures…" He snapped with something between a snarl and a smirk. He reached behind him stilling Ann's hand in his hair and rubbed her hand knowing these affections were making Andrea even more uncomfortable.

"Ah'm so sorry I feel like shit…" Andrea admitted to the both of them.

"Yeah you look it to…" Daryl muttered making Ann snicker lightly.

Andrea looked over at Ann before lightly rubbing her neck in memory. Daryl quirked an eyebrow at the light bruises that dotted around Andrea's neck where Ann had damn near choked her to death.

"I mean…" Andrea tried again unsure how to continue but Daryl rolled his eyes.

"You were looking after the group. We're good…" He put a complete halt to all this babbling from the blond woman. "Oh and next time you shoot me, better make sure I'm dead…" Daryl sneered at her in warning because if that ever happened again he would kill her. "And if Ah am dead, be prepared to face mah damn guard dog…" Daryl winked at Andrea suggestively while he patted Ann's leg. Andrea paled when she heard Ann giggle again and nodded and bolted from the tent.

Ann looked down at Daryl unable to contain her grin.

"Guard dog?"

"Well it seemed like a good thing to say. And it got psycho bitch outta here didn't it?" Daryl relaxed and placed his head back down in Ann's lap as she went back to playing with the hair above his ear. "Still it's a shame we can't do nothing until I heal up properly…" Daryl sighed in despair but missed Ann's coy smirk.

"Who says we can't…?" Daryl looked up at Ann confusedly. "We just need to make sure your body stays immobile."

"Ah can't do anything to you without moving…" He admitted and saw Ann zip up the flap of the tent.

"Well then, Ah guess Ah just have to do something…" Ann admitted and laid beside Daryl. "To…" Ann rolled over so she faced him. "You…" She stated quietly as she reached her hand past the waist of his pants making his breath come out in pants.

"What're ya doin…?" Daryl asked then his body jerked in surprise while his eyes widened. "Aw shit…!"

"Ah'm doing something…" Ann admitted teasingly and kissed him to silence his groans. Then Ann squeaked in surprise when Daryl managed to twist around enough to sneak his hand past the waist of her pants.

Ann laid her forehead against Daryl's after their fun ended.

"Shit darlin'." Daryl panted trying to catch his breath.

"Yeah…" Ann offered back unable to put words together.

"That was a helluva lot better than any crossbow 'lesson' Ah had planned…"

"Ah doubt that." Ann smirked and breathed in deeply before she stood up. "Hey listen Ah gotta go check on Lori and Carl. Lori wasn't feeling too well earlier and wanted to see if Carl was healing up as well as Hershel said he was." Ann told him and he pouted but she kissed him again and got up. "You get some rest, you should pretty tired by now."

"Aw shut up…" Daryl offered back with a smirk.

Ann approached Lori who was moving around the camp awkwardly avoiding Glen.

"Hey big sis." Ann teased her quietly making her jump in fright. "Wow now yer more jumpy than I am…" Lori shot her a mock glare and sighed before moving away. "So…" Ann started again and took a deep breath. "Has that bun coming…?" Lori looked over at her sharply. "Aw don't look so surprised. I was there during the first one and Ah'm a nurse. Oh and I am pretty sure it's Shane's. Dammit Lori I told you two to talk to Rick about this!" Ann snapped angry at this point. "A don't give a rats ass about this drama between you three but Carl is going to suffer for it…there's still time to clear the air with Rick. He might surprise you with how much shit he can tolerate…" Ann sighed tiredly. "Please talk to him before this gets more outta hand than it already has…"

"Shh." Lori bit out acidly seeing Shane and Rick approach them with pissed off expressions.

"Lori you will not believe what just happened!" Rick snapped and shook his head.

"What…?" Ann asked worriedly and Shane pulled out a handgun.

"Ah just found this in the possession of Carl!" Shane snapped angrily, both Lori and Ann's faces paled.


	23. The Cat's out of the Bag

Ann sighed in disappointment at her nephew. Lori was beside herself with anger while Rick and Shane just stood there looking over at Carl who was sitting on a fallen log. Ann stood up and walked over to Rick and Shane.

"I am going to go find Dale, in case he does a gun check and finds one missing. Ya know stop the scene before it starts…" Rick nodded still looking at his son and Shane patted Ann's shoulder making her flinch away a bit but she nodded back to him tersely.

Ann entered the RV past Andrea who actually jumped away from Ann in a post-traumatic stress kind of way. Ann rolled her eyes and walked further into the RV past Glen who just looked like a bundle of nerves.

"Wow Glen that farmer's daughter has you all tied up in knots huh?" Ann asked calmly moving past him into the back of the RV where Dale was looking over the guns. "Hey Dale, you're going to find one missing. It looks like a black pistol with the words Smith and Wesson."

"Yeah I just noticed it was missing. So who is the thief?" Dale asked with a relieved smile but his face dropped when Ann pointed to Carl sitting outside. "Well I guess we're just going to have to check out how this happened."

Ann and Dale exited the RV and walked back over to the small group.

"How the hell did this happen?" Lori asked angrily and Dale cleared his throat.

"I guess it could be my fault. I let him in the RV, he said he wanted a Walkie, did you send him for one?"

"So on top of everything else, he lied…" Lori snapped looking over at her son who hunkered down in shame.

"He told me he wanted to learn how to shoot. He asked me if I would teach him. I told him I would talk to you two about it. But if it's okay, I'd be more than happy to teach him…" Shane offered but Lori shook her head.

"Ah ain't comfortable with this…" Lori told all four of them. But the three men looked at her like they understood why the kid wanted to learn. "Don't make me look like the bad guy here guys…" Lori bit out angrily.

"I agree with both sides." Ann admitted and everyone looked at her. "I can understand why you'd be freaked with Carl learning to shoot, especially at such a young age. But Lori this world isn't the same anymore. It's better to let somebody that has had experience with training others then telling the kid no. He'd just grab another gun and train behind yer back. Now without an experienced trainer helping him, it puts him at risk for shooting himself in the foot, or something somebody else. Without training, the same thing that happened with Otis might happen to Carl. That man was absolutely heartsick with guilt that he had shot Carl. He even sacrificed his life to save the kid…" Ann noticed Shane twitch slightly at her mention of Otis.

Carl stood up and approached the adults and interrupted them.

"I'm not going to play with them mom. They're not toys, I just want to help look for Sophia. And also to protect the camp. But to do that I'm going to need a gun." Carl ended his spiel and Ann sighed rolling her eyes.

"Oh lord here we go with the Future Politician routine." She muttered darkly and heard Dale snicker slightly and she shrugged at him. "What're ya going to do?"

"Okay but you listen to your dad, and to Shane…and if they tell you to do something then you will do it without problems. You get me young man?" Lori pointed a warning finger at her son who nodded.

They dispersed and Dale looked over at Ann with a smirk.

"You weren't kidding with that future politician thing…"

"Nope the kid grows up if the jobs open he'll be the president Ah gather…" Ann laughed as Dale smiled through his laugh.

"How is this thing between you and Shane going…?" He asked and Ann's shoulders sagged.

"Dale…please can we not talk about this…?"

"Did something happen between you being separated from Otis and Shane to finding Daryl in the woods?"

"He left me behind, that's all that happened! Nothing else happened, I'm still pissed off that he didn't give me the benefit of the doubt."

"Ann is there a reason you aren't talking about it?" Dale asked quietly as he moved closer. "Ann did Shane threaten any of us to keep you quiet?" He asked even more quietly.

"No Dale." Ann let out a sarcastic laugh. "He only threatened me. Listen, I can handle this. I even have a plan in action so you don't have to worry." Ann looked at Dale worriedly. "Remember what I said to stay the hell away from him. Okay, or did you forget that you said that you would leave this to me?"

"I also said if it didn't fix itself my hand would be forced…" Dale informed her and she grumbled.

"Dale it is working itself out, you just have to trust me. Please just hold off for one or two days…"

"Okay Ann, but if something happens to you…" Dale shook his head. "I'm going to feel guilty no matter what anybody says.

"Thanks Dale." Ann hugged the older man. "But I can handle this."

Ann sighed tiredly and entered her tent to check on Daryl who was poking holes into the tent screen again. She laughed out loud and he looked over at her with a pout.

"Ah cain't help Ah'm bored!" He snapped as Ann took the arrow off of him once more.

"Hon, do I need to confiscate the arrows?" Ann asked him with trying to hide her smile but failing horribly.

"So what was that ruckus out there about?"

"Well Shane found Carl carrying a pistol and that evidently pissed off Lori and Rick. But Carl pulled his future politician routine and now not only is he carrying the gun but Shane is now training him with the other gun slingers."

"Oh is that all?" Daryl stated simply with a smirk. That had been a wordy explanation and Ann glowered at him with mock anger.

"I'm going back outside Dale was cooking up some meat. You want me to bring you in some?"

"What kind of meat?"

"Ya know I don't really know. It looked like it had been one of the pigs but nowadays ya can't be sure."

"I would like some mystery meat if'n ya don't mind."

"And stop poking holes in the damn tent. I don't want a bunch of bugs getting in and watching me sleep. That's just fucking creepy." Daryl huffed in laughter then grunted in pain. "Sorry…" Ann bent over and kissed his cheek. He turned his head at the last second and she got his lips instead.

Ann exited the tent and walked over to where Dale was cooking over the fire. The grease from the cooking meat made Ann think about the Walkers she had killed and how they looked and smelled and she covered her mouth and bolted away from the camp before upchucking. Kim worriedly followed her and rubbed her back.

"You okay sweetie?" She asked as Ann wiped her mouth and accepted the water in gratitude.

"Just the meat cooking made me think back to when Ah separated from Shane at the school. It was a little rancid and disturbing. Ah'm surprised none of us have gone vegetarian." Ann offered with a smile and Kim laughed lightly and patted Ann's shoulder. Ann looked over and saw Lori talking to Dale as she was getting over her morning sickness. Well at least Lori had an actual reason to get sick. Ann didn't have a reason to get sick, other than the fact that she couldn't handle eating meat without thinking about the Walkers. Ann grabbed a plate with some of the meat on it and took it back to Daryl who dug into his food happily. Ann smirked at how happy Daryl was getting food into his stomach.

"Oh yer so cute when you get food in front of you!" Ann snickered and Daryl pouted again and kept eating this time slowing down because he didn't want Ann to think he was turning into a damn Walker.

Later Ann walked around the camp and saw Andrea and Shane exit a car that they had driven to look for Sophia. Ann's face crinkled up in disgust knowing that particular look on Shane's face. It was his infamous 'guess who just got laid' look. Ann nearly upchucked again thinking about Shane having sex with Andrea. But at least those two deserved each other. Both of them were crazy bastards that would probably be better off having somebody shove them off of a cliff.

Ann paled when Andrea and Kim walked away and Dale followed Shane calling his name.

'Oh GOD Dale please don't do this!' Ann thought to herself in fear.

Ann could hear some of what was being said and it sounded like Dale was telling Shane it might be best if Shane left the group. Well obviously Shane didn't like that idea and responded as such. The breath in her lungs started to come out in short pants from the terror that was filling her right then.

"You think the group would be better off without Dale?" Shane offered acerbically. "Tell that to Lori and Rick. Ah risked my life for that boy to live…"

"And Otis'." Dale offered drolly.

Ann's eyes widened in horror at how this was going to end.

"Otis died a hero." Shane offered after a beat of tense silence.

"So you say…" Dale offered again Ann started to knock her head lightly against the tree she was hiding behind.

'nononononono.' Ann whimpered silently trying not to freak out as this all fell apart around her.

"Maybe show some gratitude?" Shane asked angrily to Dale who frowned.

"I wasn't there with you guys. But I was with you the one time when you raised your gun on Rick."

Ann's eyes widened in horror at overhearing this information.

'What the fuck?' Her mind screamed out not wanting to believe Dale.

"I know what kind of man you are…" Dale ended with a pointed look and Shane. "And maybe you can tell me why Ann flinches from you. Why she finds an excuse to leave when you get near her. Or why she seems to stick to Daryl more now than ever."

"Ann…" Shane scoffed in sarcasm. "She tell you all this?" He asked angrily and Dale looked worried at the icy look in Shane's eyes.

"Nope Shane, I just see a lot of things from the RV rooftop." Dale admitted out loud trying to save Ann any backlash.

Ann couldn't listen to anymore as she crouched against the tree feeling tears filling her eyes. She jumped in fright hearing somebody walk over to her.

"You heard everything?" She heard a quiet voice ask her and she looked up with tear filled eyes at Dale who looked away ashamed. Ann stood up and walked over to him.

"Do you realize now why Ah can't say anything?" She asked angrily making Dale look down again. "You mentioned mah name Dale. Do you not realize that I am not going to live much longer?" Ann bit out with conviction then saw Dale's face pale. "He told me that if Ah told anybody about anything he'd snap mah neck!" Ann sighed feeling tears start to go down her cheeks. She shook her head with a small sob. "You just fucking killed me Dale. Ya just got me killed and he's going to make it look like a freaky accident. Or he could do what he did last time and leave me behind with Walkers breathing down my damn neck and tell everybody that Ah didn't make it."

"Wait…you mean…?" Dale asked quietly before paling in anger.

"Yes Dale, we had time before the Walkers got too close! He just left because he didn't want to take the time to help me. As long as he got the supplies back to Rick he didn't care about leaving me behind on purpose. He didn't even care about tripping Otis so the Walkers were busy with him so Shane could make it away."

"He really did…?" Dale asked quietly but Ann shook her head. She sighed in defeat and walked away.

Ann sat behind the horse stables and cried to herself. She heard somebody approach her and she looked up and paled.

"Hey Ann…" Shane offered with a smirk. "You tell Dale about me huh?" He asked while his smirk dropped a little bit.

"I didn't tell him anything. All I have told everybody was that you left me but you misjudged mah will to survive. And that Ah have abandonment issues that is it end of fucking list!" Ann offered acerbically and started to walk away but Shane grabbed her shoulder and pinned her to the stable wall. "Shane just let me go…" Ann demanded feeling like she was going to be killed this night.

"I saw how you looked at Andrea when we got back…" Shane offered with a smirk and Ann's face showed her confusion. "There's no need to be jealous of her…" Shane gave her a cocky grin and Ann's face showed disgust now.

"Holy shit, you really are full of yourself!" Ann moved away from Shane not wanting to believe that he just said that to her.

"Come on Ah remember ya used to have a crush on me when ya were 11." Shane grinned at her and she quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah and Ah also had crushes on New Kids on the Block and a couple of the Power Rangers. It didn't mean anything then and it means nothing now." Ann tried to leave again but Shane pushed against the stable wall again. "Shane let me go…" She warned him icily. Shane leaned closer to her and the closer he got to her the more freaked she became. "Shane stop!" She snapped at him but he kissed her and pinned her arms to the wall. She twisted away from his lips and started calling out. He slapped her in the face and tears filled her eyes. "Shane please don't do this." She begged him but he used one hand to pin her arms while his hands moved to her chest and moved his hand under her shirt. "SHANE STOP IT!" She hollered in fear but kissed her again silencing her cries for help. He nudged his leg in between her legs and Ann finally got some leverage and slapped him after getting one hand free. As he reeled from the slap Ann brought her knee up into his groin. Shane groaned in pain and leaned against the wall for support as Ann bolted away.

Ann rounded the corner and just about tripped over Patricia and Maggie Green. They saw the tears on her face and saw how freaked out she was.

"Help me, please…" Ann asked terrified as Shane rounded the corner and halted seeing Ann talking to the two women. He sighed and walked away with a slight limp.

"Let's get you inside the house…" Patricia stared after Shane and Maggie helped Ann into the main ranch house. "You okay?" Patricia gave Ann some warm milk they had gotten from the cows that morning. Ann couldn't hold the cup without her hand shaking so she just put it down.

"I'll be okay…" She offered but Maggie gave her a hug. Ann finally stood up and looked around the hunting room. She saw an older pistol in a display case. "Nice gun, old fashioned Colt?" Ann asked quietly as Patricia nodded and walked over to her.

"Yeah it was Otis' he liked to collect guns."

"This the kind of gun that doesn't misfire?" Ann asked ghosting her hand over the case.

"You know your older guns." Patricia nodded impressed with her knowledge.

"I'd like to make a deal with you Patricia. You let me have this here gun…"

"It's an old gun, you'd better have something really great to offer." Patricia looked at her now unimpressed. Ann looked over at her seriously.

"Yeah Ah can get you the truth about Otis' death." Ann stated simply and noticed Patricia's face pale while Maggie gasped in surprise. Ann looked at the both of them worriedly. "But Ah need yer help…"


	24. Plan, Plot, and Walkers in the Barn

Patricia looked over at Ann and slowly nodded in agreement.

"What do you need?"

"Just the gun and this kind of ammunition." Ann held up note pad in explanation and Maggie paled.

"You are aware what kind those are?" She asked worriedly Ann only nodded in return.

"Yep, now all we have to do is wait for the right time to present itself and Ah will take care of everything…I promise." Ann vowed to the two girls in front of her. "But if it doesn't work and something happens to me…" Ann reached into her pocket and pulled out some envelopes. "See to it that Daryl and Rick get these. You have my permission to take my wedding ring off and give it to Daryl."

"Ann if it's too dangerous we can live with Otis' death…" Patricia offered worriedly but Ann could see the lie plain and simple.

"My nephew owes his life to Otis, this is the least Ah could do…but Ah'm not going lie, Ah'm fucking scared as hell…" Patricia and Maggie Green hugged her while Hershel came into the house and looked at the three girls with a suspicious expression. "Thanks you guys…" Ann stated quietly and exited the ranch house.

Ann went back to her tent and saw Daryl about to poke another damn hole into the tent side.

"Oh for the love of…." She looked upwards to the sky with an expression that shouted '

how did I get stuck with such a child!' "Seriously?" She snapped at Daryl with a snicker and laid beside him and nuzzled into his neck.

"You okay…?" Daryl asked after pressing a light kiss to Ann's temple.

"Yeah, Patricia was showing me Otis' gun collection. He had some really old weapons. Ah found them cool and she gave me a brief history lesson. Damn felt like Ah was back in High School!" Ann laughed and Daryl smirked and hugged her closer and he was asleep. Ann closed her eyes and thought about how later she might not be able to do this again. If this plan didn't work Shane would kill her, and if this plan did work Rick and Daryl will kill her. Either way she was fucking dead hopefully she could take Shane down with her.

The next morning Ann helped Kim prepare some breakfast for the others. Rick was standing by himself running a hand through his hair. Ann approached him with a plate of food.

"Hey, morning big brother…" She offered and Rick just looked over at her silently. Ann frowned seeing that Rick looked horrible. "What's up?"

"Did you know…?" Rick asked quietly and Ann looked at him confusedly.

"About what…?" She asked worriedly.

"About Lori being pregnant…about…?" Rick stumbled on his words. "Her and Shane…?" Ann's face paled but them she smiled in relief.

"Thank GOD they finally came clean…"

"No just Lori, and that's only because I found her damn morning after pills…!" Rick bit out angrily and Ann sighed in defeat.

"Ah told them both to talk to you about everything. Evidently common sense overrules idiocy and fear…"

"Did I fail as a husband? Was Ah not enough…" Rick started to say and found himself being punched in the arm. "OW!" He rubbed his arm looking at Ann.

"The only reason those two happened was because they had a common link. They both love you, one like a brother the other as a spouse. Losing you almost killed them both so they settled for second best. Which sorry to say was each other. But at least they had somebody to fall back on."

"Dixon took care of you also…" Rick argued and Ann smiled remembering everything Daryl and her had gone through. "Since he took care of you, he's good in mah book sis."

"Come on let's go get some food before T-Dog eats it all!" Ann offered and Rick laughed and ruffled his sister's hair. They walked back to the camp and sat around the fire.

Daryl sat in one of the foldable chairs and pushed Ann into the chair beside him. Kim snickered lightly at the show of appreciation Ann shot him when he handed her a plate of food. Ann reached over and pulled Daryl into a kiss who looked around the camp turning a bit red in the cheeks. Ann twitched slightly when Shane walked past her and slapped her shoulder.

"Morning Ann!" He offered with a smirk and an underlying threat hiding within it.

"Oh Shane, nice to see you this morning. Ah hope one of the horses doesn't give you a shot to the nuts. I hear those injuries hurt like a bitch." Ann offered sneering back at him and his face closed down and he shook his head and walked away.

Ann relaxed into her seat when Shane left her side. She went back to eating occasionally looking around the camp. That was when she noticed the guarded looks Dale was giving Glen who looked completely freaked out over something. Seems those two had something they wanted to say but weren't sure how to say it.

"This can't end well…" She muttered darkly and Daryl looked over at her in confusion.

"Huh…?"

"Glen and Dale…" Ann nodded her head to the two. Daryl nodded feeling something was off with the two of them. "Something's not right…" She stated more to herself.

Glen looked more freaked out as he walked over to the rest of them.

"Uhm, guys…" Glen looked at everybody eating but they gave him random looks. Ann stared at him not really wanting to hear what he was about to say. "So…" Glen offered after sharing a scared look with Dale and he cleared his throat. "The barn's full of Walkers…" Glen dropped the bomb on everybody and they all stared at him in silent horror. Ann looked around after swallowing the food in her mouth.

"Oh…and here Ah thought you were going to say we were all in danger…" Ann offered after taking a breath into her lungs. She heard a slight snicker from Daryl but he covered it up with a cough. Everybody was glaring at Ann who sighed in despair. "And that was yer random topic change of the day…" Ann stood up and looked over at Glen. "Now back to this, there's who…in the what now?" She asked awkwardly.

"Walker's in the barn…" Glen stated again Ann paled and sat heavily on the chair she was currently using.

"Yeah that's what Ah thought you said. Ah need a fucking drink…" Ann put her head in her hands.

"You and me both darlin'." Daryl admitted shaking his head.

Everybody went to go check the barn and Shane examined the door closely and a Walker growled at him from within the barn and he stormed back over to Rick.

"Now you cannot tell me you are alright with this!" Shane hollered angrily at Rick who practically growled at his friend.

"No Ah am not! But we are guests and we really have no right to go about telling people what's what!" Rick offered angrily as the two bickered Ann looked into the door hole at the Walkers.

Ann felt her arm being tugged and she looked over and saw Daryl snatching her away from the door.

"Get away from there ya crazy ass bitch…" He growled worriedly. "We didn't nearly die only to be saved and lose ya two a barn melee…" Daryl snapped at her and she looked down to the ground in embarrassment.

"We either go in there and make things right…" Shane started and looked around. "Or we leave, we've been talking about Fort Benning for a while now…"

"Shane we're not leaving…" Ann snapped at him and he pointed to her in warning.

"NOBODY WAS TALKING TO YOU!" He yelled angrily but Rick moved between the two of them.

"We can't leave yet…" Rick offered quietly and Shane was getting more and more pissed off.

"Why the hell not?" He screamed at all of them.

"Because my daughter's still out there…" Kim offered sadly and Shane looked over at her ready to argue with her now.

"Maybe it's time that we start considering the other possibilities!" Shane snapped at Kim who looked like she was punched in the stomach. Ann punched Shane in the face and he spun around ready to strike back.

"Shane shut the hell up you sick bastard!" Ann growled at him angrily.

"We're not leaving Sophia behind…" Rick glared at the man he called a friend.

"Ah just found her doll a few days ago!" Daryl bit out acidily.

"That's just it you found a doll. That is not viable proof that…" Shane stepped back as Daryl moved forward.

"You don't know what the hell yer talking about!" Daryl snapped getting more angry.

"Yeah Ah'm sure if she were still alive and saw you and that idiot wife of yers coming she'd run in the other direction…" Shane snapped back venomously he paled but the damage was already done. Rick looked like he had just been sucker punched.

"What the hell did you just say to her…?" Rick asked in quiet fury. Daryl didn't say anything he had taken action and lunged for Shane.

The group had a rough time keeping Daryl and Shane from killing each other but Ann held fast against Daryl.

"Daryl, just breath come on breath…" She offered quietly but his muscles twitched trying to not move and hit her. "You can kill him later…" Ann placed her forehead onto his. "You can kill him later…" She admitted and he gave a huff of air.

"Promise…?" He asked icily and Ann couldn't stop the worried laugh from escaping.

"Ah promise…" Ann kissed his cheek. "This day just keeps getting better and better huh…?" She offered with a sad smile and he shook his head and walked away.

Around noontime Ann entered the ranch house and met up with Maggie and Patricia to formulate her plan.

"Why are you here when you could be planning to exterminate the people in the barn…?" Maggie offered icily.

"Because right now Ah don't fucking care about that shit. Right now Ah need to make sure Ah don't get my ass killed with this plan." Ann snapped back at the younger girl. Patricia nodded solemnly and got the blueprints for the gun she wanted out.

"Things you need to learn about this gun of Otis'…" Patricia explained calmly to Ann who nodded while accepting the bullets from Maggie.

As the three women conspired Daryl was walking towards the barn with a saddle in his arms. Kim frowned and hurried after him worriedly.

Daryl had to rest for a few seconds because he still wasn't completely healed from his wounds. Kim entered the stable and saw him nearly pass out from the pain.

"You can't go out there…" Kim offered quietly. "Hershel said you needed to heal. And I do not want to be the one that tells Ann where you went."

"Yeah well…" Daryl shrugged indifferently.

"They're going to go out and follow the trail later…" Kim offered worriedly.

"Yeah well Ah ain't going ta sit around here and do nothing…" Daryl bit out in anger, beside if he wasn't here he wouldn't be tempted to kill Shane.

"No yer going to go out and get hurt or even worse…" Kim sighed in despair. "We don't know if we're even going to find her Daryl…" Kim shrunk away from the icy look in Daryl's eyes.

"What…?" Daryl asked quietly and Kim sighed.

"I don't want to lose you too. Ann cannot lose you, she loves you. If something happens to you she's not going to survive. You didn't see what she was like when Andrea shot you. She was…" Kim let out a small sigh of despair. "They had to drug her because she wasn't letting Andrea go…they had to drug her Daryl! Don't you see? That's the only reason Andrea is still even alive!"

Daryl felt guilty the more Kim talked about Ann and how she would handle it if something happened to him. He remembered all too well how he felt when Dale told him that Ann was dead. He just couldn't put Ann through that kind of pain. He felt a sudden burst of anger and he threw the saddle as far as he could but grunted in pain. Kim ran over to him seeing him double over in pain.

"Daryl are you okay…?"

"get away from me you stupid bitch…" He grumbled and fled the stable as fast as he could. Kim sighed in relief she'd rather have Daryl yell at her than have him going out to his death and them being left to pick up the pieces after Ann found out.


	25. What kind of Plan is That?

Ann left the ranch house and noticed Daryl holding his side and seething in anger. She hurried over to him worriedly.

"Hey what's wrong? Did you pull your stitches?" She asked in concern trying to look at the wound and he slapped her hands away.

"Stop fucking fussing over me! Ah don't need a damn mother hen looking after me!" Daryl snapped angrily and brushed past her. He heard the soft 'I love you…' But he just couldn't help himself and stormed away with a shake of his head.

Ann felt hurt, but she knew this shit would only get worse as the day went on. She rubbed the pocket of her jeans that held the bullets and dropped her hand in sadness. She the tucked her shirt in making sure the old Colt pistol was well hidden. She walked around the camp just looking sadly at everyone. They couldn't tell why she was upset other than Shane calling her an idiot and having to stop her husband from killing the man.

Dale bumped into Ann and she saw him holding the rolled up sack that held all the weapons.

"Dale…"

"He can't you or anyone else if he can't find the guns Ann…"

"Dale please…yer just making it worse, for yourself…" Ann offered sadly and hugged the older man. "Ah'm sorry ya got pulled into this…" Ann stated simply with a small sob.

"Ann?" Dale looked at her worriedly. "Ann…what are you doing…?" He asked while his eyes widened in realization that she had been planning something all along.

"It will be okay Dale I promise. If this plan works everybody will see Shane as what he really is…" Ann offered with a sad smile. "I'm just waiting until everybody is in one spot to initiate it…"

"Ann…" Dale stated carefully but Ann just hugged him again and lightly kissed his cheek.

"You'd better get those guns hid before Shane finds ya…"

She walked away from Dale who looked like he was torn between going after Ann, or hiding those damn guns he was holding. In the end he decided that Daryl could talk her out of doing anything stupid. He needed to move these damn guns. He nodded to himself and walked away.

Ann approached Kim quietly and surprised the woman who was fretting over this and that.

"Kim I need to talk to you…" Ann stated simply and Kim looked at her worriedly then nodded.

"About what…?"

"You're the only other one besides myself that Daryl talks to like a human. I need for you to take care of him if something happens to me…" Ann saw Kim look over at her sharply causing Ann to swallow nervously.

"What do you mean if something…" Kim asked as her face lost its color.

"Just make sure he don't do anything stupid…" Ann bit out sadly. "It's all I ask…" Ann walked away without another word said.

Daryl looked over at Kim who was standing near him.

"Hey Daryl you mind showing me where you found those Cherokee Roses?" She asked curiously and Daryl shrugged with a nod.

"Sure whatever…" And they were off on their little walk. Daryl showed her where some more were sprouting up from the bushes. "Now what did ya want ta talk about?" Daryl asked knowing this didn't have a thing to do with flowers. "If it's about this morning, then Ah'm sorry about what happened in the stable…"

"No it's not about what happened…Daryl something's wrong with Ann…"

"What do you mean…?" Daryl asked while dread filled his chest. 'She hasn't been the same since that kill or be eaten to death shit in the woods…' Daryl worried to himself not sure where this talk was going.

"It's like she knows something we don't. The things she said…" Kim let out a weary sigh. "It's like she's prepared to die…"

Daryl looked sharply at her and tried to fight down the rising fear.

"What did she say exactly…?" He asked Kim slowly. As Kim told Daryl what had transpired between her and Ann, Ann was watching her nephew walk around and doing odds and ends jobs to keep busy.

Ann looked over at Lori and walked over to her quietly.

"Lori take care of my boys…" She stated quietly to her sister-in-law who looked at her in confusion. She then hugged Lori tightly and whispered in her ear. "Stay the hell away from Shane Lori. Please, he's dangerous. Maybe later you'll know just how much…"

"Ann what are you…?" Lori started to ask but Ann gave her a sad smile as tears filled her eyes.

Ann shook her head and quickly entered the ranch house where Patricia and Maggie were getting ready for this plan to get put into action. Maggie went outside to talk to Glen leaving Ann and Patricia to talk alone.

"Ah'm scared…" Ann stated simply her fingers twitched nervously and Patricia grabbed her face into her hands.

"Ann you don't have to do this…" She tried to get the younger girl to stop the plan but she secretly wanted that plan to go on.

"Yeah Ah do…" Ann let out a small sob as Patricia hugged her in despair. "Ah just wish I could've talked to Rick one last time…" Ann sobbed again but stood up straighter when they heard loud shouting outside indicating that Rick and Hershel were back from whatever they were doing in the woods.

"Ann…they're all in one spot…" Patricia whispered worriedly into the girls ear who nodded with a sigh.

"It's time…" Ann stated quietly as she and Patricia went running outside hearing some gunshots going off.

The Walkers that were being held captive by Rick and Hershel were executed by Shane. He was beyond help now and Ann would make damn sure he'd hurt nobody else, anymore. Hershel was on the ground and was pale and Ann ran over to him to take his vitals.

"Ann!" Daryl yelled over to her but she ignored his worried shout and kept looking after the older man.

"Ah'm sorry about all of this Hershel." She whispered sadly into the man's ear who gave her a broken look.

Ann noticed that during all the shit hitting the fan that Shane had busted the locks on the barn clean off. Walkers were now filtering out of the barn and everybody didn't think twice and started shooting at the damn things. Suddenly it was all over and they were all dead, well dead again…

Ann heard a light shuffling from within the barn and the world ended in such a way that she was never going to heal from. Her heart broke, her stomach fell, and she let out a bitter hysterical laugh at seeing the last Walker exit the barn.

Everyone stared in silent horror as Sophia exited the barn glaring at them all with white eyes.

Daryl felt his soul take a vicious beating after the last Walker exited the barn. He barely had enough time to stop Kim from running towards what used to be her daughter. He grabbed her around her waist and wouldn't let her move any closer as she screamed for her life.

Nobody could even talk but Sophia the Walker just stared at them as she shuffled closer to them. They couldn't even lift their weapons to end the poor things suffering. That is until Rick walked forward and took that one shot and Sophia fell to the ground finally able to rest in peace.

Daryl couldn't believe this shit was happening right now! He lowered his head onto Kim's back trying to stay calm. Everything he'd been through, everything Ann has gone through was all for fucking nothing!

Everybody heard the hysterical and bitter laugh and they looked over to Ann Dixon who suddenly stood up. She wiped the streams of tears off of her cheeks and let out another bitter laugh.

"Ann…" Rick looked at her worriedly but she shook her head.

"Well!" She called out to everybody with a fake grin. "If this isn't the funniest thing to happen to us since the world ended!" She snapped out bitterly. She noticed Dale moving closer. "STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" She growled at him and he froze mid-step. "Ah think this may be the perfect time!" Ann let out another hysterical giggle as she reached into her pocket and pulled out some bullets. "Time for everybody to come clean about everything! Ah certainly can't think of any better time!" Ann looked over at Shane with scorn. "How about you Shane?" Ann asked venomously but instead of talking anymore she reached behind her and pulled the old Colt from behind her pants. "Now Shane…" Ann offered with a shake of her head and a crazed smile. "Ah was giving a chance before to come clean about everything." Ann slowly entered the bullets into the gun and locked them into place. "But now it's clear that ya need some incentive to free yer soul from its pain and lies…" Ann cocked back the hammer of the Colt and held it up to Shane. "That chance is gone, but here is one last chance!" She yelled at him with a bitter smile. She locked eyes with Daryl before looking back at Shane. "One last chance to come clean and tell everybody what happened…" Ann saw the guarded look on Shane's face like he didn't believe she would shoot him. What Ann did next surprised everybody and most the women gasped in shock. Ann held the gun's barrel against her own head. "You talk right now or I pull the trigger!"

"Ann…" Rick moved forward but the look she gave him stopped him cold.

"Dammit see what I mean Rick?" Shane snapped angrily at his friend. "Ah told you she was having issues dealing with what happened! She's gone off her fucking rocker!"

Daryl felt his blood freeze when Ann pulled the gun and talked calmly to Deputy Dipshit. His heart jumped into his throat when Ann turned the gun on herself and said 'talk now or I pull the trigger'.

"ANN! DON'T DO THIS PLEASE!" Daryl yelled over to her in terror but Ann just gave him a sad look and mouthed the words 'I love you' to him and he shook his head in denial. "NO!" He screamed angrily unwilling to believe the day had gone this sour.

"Damn crazy fucking bitch! Ah don't know what you 'think' you saw!" Shane yelled at Ann who looked back at him. "But you need serious help! Because you are inventing things that never existed you are acting like a crazed spoiled little brat that can't stand to not get her own way!" Shane ended his tirade and Ann smiled at him sadly.

"Wrong answer Shane…" And her finger tightened on the trigger.

Everybody jumped when the gun went off. They were all stuck in silent horror as Ann's body fell to the ground unmoving. Lori let out a sharp gasp as she held Carl in her arms who had started to scream for his Aunt.

(Hint: Never fear unless you read the words 'the end' which hasn't happened in this chapter)


	26. EndGame: What the Bleep is Going On?

Silence filled the two groups of people for all of three seconds before they reacted to what they had just witnessed.

"NOOOO!" Daryl screamed as he let go of Kim and started to scramble over to Ann's body. Kim grabbed him into a hug remembering Ann's words to stop him from doing anything stupid. Even though she held onto Daryl as tightly as she could she was shaking with silent sobs at what just happened. Lori felt the sobs wrack her body as she gripped Carl tightly as the preteen still screamed for his Aunt. Andrea let go of her gun and it made a dull thud when it hit the ground. She let out a small sob and hugged Dale needing somebody to keep her from falling apart. Dale let her sob into his neck as he stared down at Ann's body with a pale and shocked expression. Both Glen and T-Dog were just completely numb to what just happened. Neither man could even open their mouths to make a sound.

Rick Grimes looked around in stunned silence before looking back down at his sister's body on the ground. His face had paled to the point that even his lips had lost their color. He looked over at Shane, a man he had known all of his life and saw the horrified surprise in his best friend's eyes. Rick saw something else within Shane's eyes. Something that looked an awful lot like 'hidden guilt'. Rick breathed in shakily and marched over to Shane with a stony look in his own eyes.

"Shane…" Rick started quietly starting not to lose his mind. "What did you do…?" He asked calmly and Shane's guilt all but disappeared and he turned a scathing look back at him.

"Ah didn't do nothing! This jus' proves that this girl's cheese slipped off her damn cracker!" Shane snapped angrily at Rick.

"Shane…" Rick started again but this time his voice was getting harder, more angry. "What ever happened between to you two…" Rick took in another breath. "Was bad enough that my little sista jus' fucking blew her brains out!" Rick ended with an acidic scream. "Now you tell me…WHAT DID YOU DO?" Rick shouted again not even bothering to keep his voice calm.

"She said something about you coming clean…" Glen stated looking over at Shane in confused anger. "What did she mean by that?" T-Dog asked now finishing Glen's question for him because the kid couldn't continue.

"She told me to stay away from you because she said you were dangerous!" Lori snapped at him while still holding her son in her arms.

Daryl couldn't listen to anymore as he angrily pushed Kim away from him and he marched over to Shane.

"First couple days she couldn't even be near ya. She wouldn't even talk or smile." Daryl got into Shane's face. "She started crying and talking in her sleep, and judging by the venomous looks she kept giving ya…" Daryl's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Ah'd say she had a personal vendetta against ya!" Daryl's eye twitched with anger. "Now tell me what you did to mah wife…" He all but growled at Shane who paled but didn't back down.

"Ah DIDN'T DO NOTHING!" Shane yelled at all of them.

"Really that's not what she told me…" Dale offered icily getting everybody's attention. Shane whipped around and glared at the older man in fear. "She told me yesterday that Shane left her behind on purpose. And that he tripped Otis so that the Walkers would get him instead of chasing him so he could get away."

"He what…?" Lori asked at the same time Rick asked.

"That the Walkers weren't even close to her until after Shane jumped off of the wall. She then revealed to me that Shane threatened to kill her if she told any of us…" Dale offered but as soon as the words left his mouth he knew he had made a horrible mistake.

Daryl's blue eyes darkened in fury and he looked over at Shane who was looking down at the ground. Shane's face suddenly dropped into a scowl and he shook his head.

"Ah should of fucking snapped her neck when Ah had the chance…" He growled to himself quietly. He realized too late that probably wasn't the smartest thing to say because Daryl had been way too close already and he had what he muttered.

Glen and T-Dog each had one person to hold onto. Glen gripped Shane's shoulders as he tried to fight off Daryl Dixon who was hell bent and determined to kill this son of a bitch. T-Dog had Daryl by the shoulder and shirt trying to hold him back from getting to Shane.

"Ah didn't do anything to her!" Shane screamed and Maggie snorted in laughter and everybody quieted down and looked over at her now.

"Oh and does not doing anything also entail damn near raping her last night behind the stable?" Maggie hollered at him and those words finally sunk into Daryl's brain and his resolve to kill Shane was strengthened one thousand fold.

"AH'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Daryl found himself barreling into Shane and knocking them both over.

T-Dog looked smugly over at Glen with an air of sweet revenge.

"Oops, lost mah grip on him…" He offered and Glen nodded in agreement.

"So did I…" Glen admitted that as soon as what Maggie said entered his ears he had let Shane go at roughly the same time that T-Dog let Daryl go. Now they both watched as Daryl damn near killed Shane in front of them with grim satisfaction.

Daryl Dixon couldn't even think right now. He just kept slamming his fists into the asshole he was holding to the ground. Although, when he pulled out his big ass hunting knife somebody stood his downward thrust saving the assholes life. He glared up at Rick who had stopped him from slamming the man with the sharp blade. Rick just looked at Daryl and calmly shook his head.

"No killing…" He stated sternly but Daryl glared at him again and struggled against his hand. "Daryl…" He snapped angrily at the younger kid. "You kill him, then he wins…" Rick offered quietly but Daryl still wasn't listening. "You want him to pay for what he did right…?" Rick stated even more quietly and it was starting to have an effect on Daryl who nodded sadly. "You want him to suffer like the rest of us right?" Daryl nodded again being lulled into not trying to plunge the knife into his target. "Then we let him live."

Daryl looked up at Rick sharply with an angered look, but Rick kept his gaze steady as he looked at his brother-in-law.

"We let him live knowing that he had a family with all of us, but now he doesn't. He's going to live with that knowledge until he dies. Isn't that better than just killing him, ya know making him live with knowing that?" Daryl's eye color dimmed slightly and he gave Rick a sad look and nodded. "Now give me the knife kid…" Rick moved his hand the hand that was still gripping the knife tightly. Daryl looked lost for a second but let Rick take the knife from his hand. Rick tossed the knife away from the two of them and he helped the younger man to stand up. "Good choice…" Rick nodded to Daryl and patted his shoulder awkwardly and before anybody knew what happened Rick turned around and sent a powerful kick into Shane's ribcage making him curl into himself in pain with a sharp cry.

Daryl's eyes teared up as he looked over at Ann again.

"It don't matter anyway, Ah still lost her…" He offered brokenly to Rick who pulled him into a tight hug.

Patricia Green stood up after being at her father's side the whole time. She glowered at Shane who was almost dead on the ground.

"Well Ah have certainly heard enough…how about you Maggie…?" She stated and then asked her little sister who nodded.

"More than enough." Maggie added quietly but everybody still heard her. Then Maggie smiled at Ann's body and spoke again. "Thanks for the heads up Ann…"

"Yer welcome…"

Everybody heard the words but they weren't sure what the fuck was going on. Ann slowly sat up and rubbed her head where she now had a circular burn on her temple. She grunted in pain as she got up on her knees. She rubbed her face tiredly.

"Ah didn't it would take 'that' long! God he sure is a stubborn sumbitch." Ann offered to the two sisters who looked back at her thankfully.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?" Rick yelled still not sure what was going on.

Maggie and Patricia helped Ann to stand up who groaned in pain. Ann picked up the old Colt pistol and emptied the rounds into her hand with a sarcastic laugh as she walked over to Shane. She dropped the bullets on Shane's chest who was staring up at her in shocked terror.

"These bullets look familiar Shane?" Ann asked coyly and Rick picked one of them and paled in realization.

"Blanks…" Rick muttered with a surprised huff of laughter. "Ya used fucking blanks!" Rick snapped out loud with a hysterical laugh of disbelief while he ran one of his hands through his hair.

Daryl stared at Ann who hadn't even spoken yet. His face showed that he was highly unamused. He then hugged Ann tightly and let out a relieved gasp of laughter.

"You crazy fucking bitch!" He pressed his face into her hair as he hugged her even tighter.

"But even if the gun had blanks…" Dale started and everybody looked over at him. "The gun could've have misfired and killed her anyway…" Dale explained and Ann nodded but she tossed him the Colt pistol.

"What kind of gun is it Dale?" Ann asked calmly, and Dale looked at it and paled before letting out a surprised huff of laughter.

"A Texan Smith Colt 45." Dale realized and shot Ann a grin of disbelief. "You really did do your homework kid…" He shook his head but noticed everybody giving him perplexed looks. "It was the first and only of its kind. It was a Colt that was designed by a Conman who would often play Russian roulette with this gun. He always won and nobody knew how, until the man finally died. They stole the gun and realized that the way he made it, he had tweaked a regular Colt 45., into the only gun during 1800's that had a slim chance of misfiring even with the blanks he always had in the gun. He cheated at the game the gun was lost when he died, but I guess it found its way here…" Dale tossed the gun back to Ann who handed it back over to Patricia with a small smile.

"Thanks for the loan." Patricia was relieved that Ann wasn't going to keep the gun and had given it back after she was done with it.

Ann felt a squeeze to her arm and looked over at Daryl who was staring at her seriously.

"We are going to go have a nice 'long' talk about this…" Daryl looked at her not feeling so amused now and Ann nodded letting herself be led away to the tree line of the woods.

Daryl put her up against a tree and paced a little before he brought his hand down his face as a nervous tic he had. He shook his head and paced a little more before he pointed one finger at Ann opening his mouth. Ann steeled herself waiting for the onslaught of obscenities but Daryl closed his mouth again still unable to talk and he shook his head and went back to pacing.

"Sooo…" Ann started but Daryl glared her into silence and she shut her mouth again.

"Jus answer me this…why the hell couldn't ya just talk ta me about it?" He snapped at her angrily and slightly hurt.

"Because you would've killed him…" Ann offered quietly and Daryl stared at her and nodded before he continued.

"YER DAMN RIGHT I WOULD'VE FUCKING KILLED HIM!" He yelled at her angrily but he saw the sad smile on her face.

"I need to do it myself Daryl. Ah promised mahself that Ah would get even with him and Ah did!" Ann admitted with a small sigh. "What he did, leaving me behind and all…" Ann let out a small sob trying to keep her emotions in check. "He forced me to kill Walkers that used to be people like you and me. Ah bumped into another herd like the one from the Highway!"

Daryl looked at her sadly knowing that she had gone through more hell than he had thought she had.

"There were kids in that herd Daryl! KIDS! And Ah sliced them apart along with the adult Walkers without even thinking about it! So yeah Ah kind of wanted to get Shane mahself so go ahead and fucking sue me fer going great lengths to make him pay!"

"You didn't even think about what this plan would do to me?" Daryl asked quietly and he shook his head. "To that idiot brotha of yers?"

"Ah thought about it the whole way through! But after last night behind the stable…" Ann stuttered to a stop taking a deep breath before continuing. "Ah realized ah had to do something or he would get us all killed."

"Ya went through with this whole plan of yers even after seeing Sophia! And you just shot yerself in front of all us after we just lost that little girl for the second time! And through all of that with seeing Rick shoot the kid putting her out of her misery…all Ah could think of was…" Daryl bit out and turned around unable to continue and he gasped trying to hide his cries of shame. "All Ah could think was…" He tried again still unable to say what he wanted. Ann's eyes widened in realization when Daryl wouldn't look at her fearing she'd see the shame in his eyes.

"And all you could think was…." Ann started for him and he looked over at her sadly. "Thank GOD it wasn't Merle…" She ended for him and he turned away from her again feeling the tears falling down his cheeks.

"Go ahead and call me a bad person…" Daryl bit out angrily as he felt the sobs trying to break free. He sat down tiredly and pressed his face into his knees. "GOD Ah'm such a horrible bastard!" He moaned into his knees trying to stay calm. He looked up into Ann's face when she snaked her arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug.

"Yer not a horrible person…" Ann whispered into his cheek before she kissed the tears away from the skin. "It's a normal reaction and it doesn't make you a bad person, it makes you human." Ann told him and he shook his head and buried his face into her neck and cried some more.

"Ah failed them both. Ah failed Kim and Ah failed the little girl…"

"I failed them too Daryl. I was with you every step of the way, so don't try to hold all of this guilt on your shoulders. Ah can take half, because Ah love you and that will never change."

"We'll get through this right…?" Daryl asked her worriedly and Ann nodded.

"Eventually yeah we will…but not today…" Ann offered quietly. "Today we mourn for those lost and for those who lost…" She felt tears falling down her cheeks but Daryl shook his head morosely and moved in front of Ann and started to take her shirt off. "Daryl…yer still trying to heal…" She warned him but he gave her a hard look.

"No way darlin'. You just shot yerself in the damn head and we found out where Sophia was…" He finished with her shirt and carefully took his shirt off minding his stitches. "Ah need this!" He kissed her and pulled her into a hug. "Ah need you…"

Ann nodded at his words and pulled him for another kiss determined to get through this new version of hell together.

THE END

AN: Yay another season is over and so is this story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I loved writing it. Thanks to all my reviewers both anonymous and signed. And thanks to you Lurkers you know the ones that read and don't review you know who you are. ;) Thanks again)


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